KYIV — Russian forces relentlessly battered Kyiv and cities in the region around the Ukrainian capital for a fifth straight day on Monday, leaving some supermarket shelves bare after repeated strikes on warehouses as Ukraine reels from attacks with jet-powered drones.Russia has intensified its aerial attacks in recent months, more than four years after it launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbor.Almost constant air raid alerts in the Kyiv region in recent days have severely disrupted daily routines. Two major attacks in July killed almost 50 civilians and a strike on Saturday killed at least 38 people.Meanwhile, an overnight strike on a printing press on the edge of the Ukrainian capital destroyed around 12 million textbooks ahead of the start of the new school year.Classes were due to resume at Ukrainian schools on Tuesday, but it was unclear whether parents would send their children. Schools have air raid shelters, and classes can also be held online.Russia has hit printing presses and publishing houses across Ukraine in a series of recent attacks, destroying millions of books and damaging other icons of Ukrainian history and culture. Local media report that Russia has destroyed one third of all the books printed in Ukraine this year.More than 35 publishing facilities have been hit over recent weeks.But it’s not just fresh pages coming under attack. Kyiv’s Pochaina second-hand book market was also struck, wiping out hundreds of individual stalls and countless treasured tomes.Museums, art galleries, film studios, libraries, and opera houses have also been damaged. At Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, the capital’s large medieval monastery and cultural heritage site, the golden domes of the Dormition Cathedral were hit.Religious artefacts were moved to safety but a large section of the roof was set ablaze after a drone attack. Repairs are predicted to cost $11.2 million (£8.2m) and will take two years.The site is also home to Ukraine’s museum of books and printing. Unesco listed the complex in 1990, and added it to its register of world heritage sites in danger in September 2023.At recent celebrations marking 975 years since the monastery’s founding, Unesco’s Director-General Khaled El-Enany said he was “deeply saddened” to see “the significant damage”.”Unesco firmly condemns all attacks against cultural property protected under international law,” he told gathered dignitaries, including President Volodymyr Zelensky.El-Enany toured the cathedral with Ukraine’s minister of culture, Tetyana Berezhna, who told me the cultural and military impacts of Russia’s war should not be separated.”This is an existential war, so Russia wants to destroy us as a nation, to erase us as a nation, like Ukrainians do not exist and have never existed. That’s why Russia targets our cultural heritage, the symbols of our presence here for a long time.”They understand that it’s very important for us because we protect our identity, we protect our culture, and Russia wants to ruin everything that it cannot appropriate.”Berezhna says Russia has attacked over 1,900 pieces of Ukrainian heritage and more than 2,000 cultural institutions. Digitisation is part of the strategy to protect art and literature and ensure children can still learn, despite the attacks on physical books.There are warnings Ukraine’s entire publishing sector is under threat and needs international support to remain viable.Earlier this month, a Russian strike on a warehouse in northeastern Kharkiv destroyed 8 million books, the publishing house said, slamming it as an attack on Ukrainian culture.”The enemy is trying to burn out our education and culture,” the publisher, Ranok, said.The Kremlin has repeatedly denied deliberately hitting civilian targets throughout the five years of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, despite repeated and widespread missile and drone attacks on residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure.But Ukraine has also tried to make Russian civilians feel the burden of war by hammering major online retailers and oil facilities.The attacks have brought shortages for ordinary Russians, though its strikes have not been as deadly for civilians.Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky conceded on social media that Ukraine is struggling to counter fast-flying jet-propelled drones that Russia is increasingly deploying.Between Thursday and Sunday, Russia fired almost 1,500 drones at Ukraine and around 800 of them were jet-powered, Zelensky said.Combat aircraft are currently trying to stop the jet-powered versions while Ukraine looks to develop more effective technology.“Four companies have developed the relevant interceptor drones, and one company has the most successful technology,” Zelensky said. He didn’t elaborate.Repeated Russian strikes on food distribution centres and retail hubs have disrupted Ukrainian logistics, leaving some supermarket shelves bare and fuelling public concern about shortages.Those fears prompted Zelensky adviser Serhii Beskrestnov to say on social media on Monday that Ukraine will not go hungry.He urged the public not to give in to rumours, disinformation or panic, saying producers and retailers are currently restructuring supply chains.He added that European countries would be ready to fill any food supply shortfall, if necessary.At the same time, Russia has kept up its attacks on Ukraine’s power grid, seeking to leave civilians cold and without running water in the approaching winter.Russian forces launched what officials said was a massive overnight drone attack on Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region, which borders Russia, where an energy facility was damaged, according to Viacheslav Chaus, head of the regional military administration.He did not provide details of the damage.The Russian Defence Ministry said on Sunday it is preparing “massive strikes” on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.Russia overnight shot down 239 Ukrainian drones over 14 Russian regions, occupied Crimea and the waters of the Black Sea, the Defence Ministry in Moscow said Monday.A Ukrainian missile attack on Sunday evening on the Russian border city of Belgorod killed three people, acting regional Governor Alexander Shuvayev said.
Keep Up to Date with our Weekly Newsletter
