Russia said on Monday that it did not strike the historic Pechersk Lavra monastery in Kyiv in an overnight attack on military factories in the Ukrainian capital and that a US-made Patriot air defense missile had damaged the religious site.
Russia's Defense Ministry said that the Patriot missile, which it said had damaged the monastery, could have misfired because it said Western countries had provided Kyiv with arms whose shelf life had expired.
"The armed forces of the Russian Federation do not plan or carry out strikes against civilian infrastructure," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
"According to confirmed reports, the complex of buildings at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra was struck by a missile from the American Patriot air defense system. One possible reason for the malfunction of this system could be that Western countries supplied the Kyiv regime with missiles that had expired," it said.
The UNESCO World Heritage monastery caught fire overnight on Monday in the heaviest Russian air attack on the Ukrainian capital in two weeks. Moscow said its attack had targeted and struck drone manufacturing facilities, while Ukraine and many Western countries accused Russia of striking the monastery.
Ukrainian, world leaders condemn strike
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Monday post to X/Twitter that the act constituted an "attack on the Christian community and on the cultural heritage of humanity."
"There can be no justification for this or for any other similar Russian attacks, he said, calling on the international community to join together to "stop Russia’s war and stronger protection to save lives from Russia."
"A brutal assault on our people and our heritage. This is the true face of Russia's Orthodox values," Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on X.
Metropolitan Epifaniy, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, also took to X to condemn the act.
"What more must the Kremlin Antichrist do for the world to realize that decisive action must be taken so that the Russian terror against Ukraine and the very principles of peace come to an end?" he said.
French FM compares strike to bombing Notre Dame
France condemned the strikes, with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot describing the attack on the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery as akin to bombing Paris' Notre Dame.
"This is a UNESCO world heritage site, which is the equivalent, for us in France, as if Notre Dame or Saint Denis had been bombed, which is totally unacceptable," said Barrot, as he arrived for a meeting of European Union foreign ministers.
French President Emmanuel Macron called the attack on the monastery "unjustified" on Monday, adding that France would continue to work for a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine at the G7 meeting.
"This attack only justifies our determination to do everything we can, along with our allies and partners, to work towards a ceasefire and then for a peace deal, which Russia is stubbornly refusing. We will work on this at the G7 in Evian," Macron wrote on X.