Home › Security › What the 15 June strikes on Kyiv hit
What the 15 June strikes on Kyiv hit
Summary
A retrospective on reports of damage to the Dormition Cathedral and Dovzhenko Film Studios in the days before 17 June 2026.
What was known about the Russian strikes on Kyiv by 17 June 2026? Reports dated 15 June described damage to two cultural sites in the capital, and a death toll that also reached Kharkiv.
As reported at the time, the Dormition Cathedral in the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra was heavily damaged and set ablaze during Russian strikes on Kyiv. Nine people were killed, including five rescue workers who were attending fires set by strikes in Kharkiv.
The Dovzhenko Film Studios in Kyiv were also reported attacked on 15 June.
The wider pattern
The two sites were listed under the heading of Ukrainian culture during the Russian invasion. Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Since then, many pieces of Ukrainian cultural heritage have been destroyed, damaged or put at risk by the widespread destruction across the country.
The destruction and looting of more than 500 Ukrainian cultural heritage sites is considered a war crime. Ukraine's Minister of Culture has described it as cultural genocide.
The reports from 15 June linked the deaths of rescue workers to fires started by strikes in Kharkiv, alongside the damage in Kyiv.
