On the night of 15 June 2026, at about 1.50 a.m., during a mass attack on Kyiv, a drone struck the altar part of the St Stephen side chapel of the Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv Holy Dormition Caves Lavra. A fire of about 800 square metres broke out on the cathedral roof, and at least five further buildings were damaged. The mayor of Kyiv was the first to report it.
A second attempted strike damaged the Ivan Kushnyk Tower, knocking the cupola and its cross off it. Crews of the State Emergency Service put out the roof fire.
The present Dormition Cathedral was rebuilt from ruins from 1998 onwards and was consecrated on 24 August 2000 by His Beatitude Metropolitan Volodymyr. The brethren of the Lavra ask for prayers for their monastery and for all who suffered that night.
Sources: Information and Education Department of the UOC, 15 June 2026; NV, 15 June 2026.
