KYIV, UKRAINE - JUNE 15: A view of damage at the historic Kyiv Pechersk Lavra in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Photo by Andriy Dubchak/Frontliner/Getty Images)

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Dispatches from Ukraine. Day 1,572.

Russia launched a massive attack using 70 missiles and 611 long-range attack drones, targeting Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, alongside strikes on Kharkiv and Dnipro. The attack damaged historic and cultural sites, as well as key civilian infrastructure, killing multiple civilians.

Kyiv. A UNESCO World Heritage Site-listed Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra — the heart of Kyiv and Eastern Christianity, founded in the 11th century — was set ablaze by the Russian strike overnight on Monday, June 15. The domes of its Dormition Cathedral were on fire. Amid the attack, efforts were made for the "emergency evacuation" of ancient icons, art, and other religious relics, according to Lavra’s Bishop Avraamii.

Other cultural sites in central Kyiv were damaged by the Russian attack: Dovzhenko Film Studios and Mystetskyi Arsenal (the National Art and Culture Museum Complex). At Dovzhenko Film Studios, reportedly, the strike destroyed Ukraine’s largest and oldest costume collection. In total, the collection included 100,000 costumes and approximately 3 million individual items of clothing.

Several multi-story residential buildings were damaged, with at least five people killed and an estimated 29 injured, including a pregnant woman and two children, aged 5 and 6.

Kharkiv. On June 14, Russia hit the Kharkiv Fine Art Museum, damaging the building, causing a major fire, and injuring four adults and a one-month-old baby girl. A substantial part of the museum’s collection, according to the administration, had been evacuated earlier in the war; however, as one of the largest collections of fine and applied arts, encompassing 26,000 artifacts, many valuable pieces remained in the museum and were endangered by the fire.

Five first responders were killed and at least five others were wounded in a Russian double-tap strike on Kharkiv while they were battling a fire caused by an earlier attack, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on Monday.

Dnipro. In the early hours of June 15, Russia struck the House of Organ and Chamber Music, located in the historic building formerly known as St. Nicholas Cathedral. In addition to the national architectural and historic landmark, the attack damaged two schools and several civilian sites.

According to the Ukrainian Air Forces, the air defenses intercepted or electronically suppressed 632 aerial targets, including 50 missiles and 582 drones. Preliminary data showed 20 ballistic missiles and 27 attack drones hit 42 locations across the country, while debris from intercepted drones fell at 12 sites.

Culture Front.

While Russia targets and damages Ukrainian cultural and historic sites, Ukrainian artists, musicians, and photographers remain present on the global cultural stage.

Ukrainian soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska starred in Puccini’s Turandot at The Metropolitan Opera in New York. This revival of Franco Zeffirelli's production was conducted by Oksana Lyniv — an internationally engaged conductor from Ukraine — and had a successful run from late May through early June.

In Tribeca, a photo exhibition, Through Her Eyes, featured 76 photographs from the front lines—daily life affected by war, captured by seven Ukrainian women soldiers. Alongside the exhibition, organized by the American Ukrainian Committee and housed at Isabel Sullivan Gallery, several organizations — Dignitas Ukraine, Ukrainian Catholic University, and Borsch Of Art, among them — hosted talks and discussions about Ukraine and the war, as well as book signings. Mykola Melnyk, a Ukrainian veteran and writer, presented his book "My Maidan. War. Love. Fight" and discussed Ukraine’s advancement in drone warfare in conversation with Dmytro Kavun, the president of Dignitas Ukraine.

On June 13, The Ukrainian Museum in New York’s East Village hosted Without You, The Unknown Becomes an Adventure – an experimental community performance by Ukrainian non-actors, a collective journey through movement, sounds, and personal stories — by TISTO Studio, founded by Igor Kliuchnyk, an actor and theater director from Kharkiv, Ukraine.