Mike Baker

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Welcome back to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin.

A major Russian aerial assault against Ukraine overnight left multiple civilians dead, wounded dozens more, and damaged sites across the country, including an historical Orthodox cathedral.

As Russian forces launched roughly 600 drones and 70 missiles across Ukraine Sunday night into the early hours of this morning, the Ukrainian capital once again found itself at the center of Moscow's latest bombardment.

The attack killed at least five people, injured dozens more, and damaged residential buildings across the city.

At some point during the barrage, flames erupted at the Dormition Cathedral inside Kiev's famed Pechersk Lavra Monastery.

Images from the scene showed fire rising beside the cathedral's iconic onion domes as explosions echoed across the city.

Now, Russian officials claim that the cathedral was not intentionally targeted.

The New York Times reports church officials say falling debris likely caused the blaze rather than a direct strike.

But for many Ukrainians, that's a distinction without much difference.

Whether the damage came from a missile, a drone, or debris raining down from the sky, the result was the same.

One of the most important religious sites in Eastern Orthodoxy has been scarred by Putin's war, with seemingly no end in sight.

Kiev's military governor wrote on social media that, "...damage on the territory of the monastery is significant, and there is a serious fire," as firefighters worked at the time to contain the blaze.

Monks and clergy removed religious artifacts and historic icons before the fire spread further, helping preserve some of the monastery's most valuable religious treasures.

The monastery was founded in the 11th century and is one of the oldest and most revered religious sites in Eastern Christianity.

Its catacombs hold the remains of early Slavic saints, portions of the complex are more than a thousand years old, and for generations, it's occupied a central place in the religious history of both Ukraine and Russia.