MOSCOW — Russia is pushing back against accusations that it struck one of Kyiv’s most historically significant religious sites, claiming instead that a U.S.-manufactured Patriot air defense missile was responsible for damaging the Pechersk Lavra monastery.
The UNESCO World Heritage-listed monastery caught fire overnight Monday during what officials described as the most intense Russian aerial assault on the Ukrainian capital in two weeks. While Russia maintained its forces targeted drone production facilities and hit those targets successfully, Ukraine and numerous Western nations placed the blame squarely on Russian forces for the attack on the monastery.
Russia’s Defence Ministry went further, suggesting the Patriot missile may have malfunctioned due to expired munitions supplied by Western allies to Ukraine.
“The armed forces of the Russian Federation do not plan or carry out strikes against civilian infrastructure,” the Defence Ministry stated.
The ministry elaborated in its official statement: “According to confirmed reports, the complex of buildings at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra was struck by a missile from the American Patriot air defence system. One possible reason for the malfunction of this system could be that Western countries supplied the Kyiv regime with missiles that had expired.”
