As part of his ongoing war of aggression, Russian President Vladimir Putin has targeted and bombed one of the most sacred religious sites in Ukraine and among Orthodox Christians, the UNESCO-protected Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (also known as the “Monastery of the Caves”) on June 15. The fires started in the monastery by waves of Russian missiles and drones over the previous weekend, ravaging the historic Dormition Cathedral, among other structures.
After so many bombings in recent years, most Americans and Europeans might not recognize this attack as something out of the ordinary. For Ukrainians, it is. For many Ukrainians, this attack will rank as a cultural shock similar in magnitude to the 9/11 attacks for US citizens. If the fire that devastated Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris in 2019 had been the result of an intentional attack by a foreign government, the central issue would not have been the scale of the damage but the motive behind it.
From the outset, Russia’s strategy in its war on Ukraine has concentrated on civilian communities and local economies, seeking to render cities and towns uninhabitable. Remember Bucha, the Kyiv suburb where much of the unarmed population was massacred because the Ukrainian capital would not capitulate to the invading Russian army? However, Russia has also sought to destroy sites central to Ukrainian identity, including over 500 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, especially in the port city of Odesa, itself a work of art.
This is not simply a matter of Russian retaliation. Yes, Ukraine has hit multiple targets of value within Russia with drones in recent months as part of its increasingly assertive counteroffensive. But these were military and economic targets, such as ammunition warehouses, military air bases, and natural gas and petroleum refineries. Earlier this month, Ukrainian drones struck targets within and around St. Petersburg, just as Putin was hosting his country’s most important annual business forum. But Ukraine has not targeted religious or cultural sites in Russia, let alone anything remotely comparable to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.
Many international voices have already expressed outrage at this attack, including Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of all Orthodox Christians. While fear may keep most Russians, whether they are believers or not, quiet, many will feel shame at this action. Taking Ukrainian lives, including children, has become pretty standard throughout this war of aggression. But many Russians will be shocked that their leadership would set fire to a thousand-year-old sacred edifice.
The cathedral is named for and commemorates the passing (or Assumption in Western Christianity) of Mary, the Mother of God, into Heaven, and is therefore among the most elevated places of worship in the Orthodox faith. For Ukrainians, the church holds even greater national significance. It was largely destroyed during the German occupation during World War II and remained in ruins for decades after the war under Soviet control.
But this did not prevent Ukrainian believers from visiting the Lavra in large numbers. And after Ukrainian independence in 1991, it became a national priority to repair the damage, an objective that Ukraine achieved in 1995. Since then, the restored cathedral has become a place for both veneration and tourism.
Moscow is now claiming the damage it inflicted was the consequence of Ukrainian anti-aircraft fire. In other words, Ukraine is guilty for trying to defend itself. However, many in Ukraine will wonder if the Dormition Cathedral was targeted by Moscow precisely because it had been rebuilt by an independent Ukraine, which Putin seeks to eliminate. As such, its destruction represents a warning of the cultural devastation that awaits Ukraine if it is defeated.
Repairs on the cathedral have already begun with both government and private support, and it is already clear that repairing the damage inflicted by Putin on the Kyiv-Pechersk Monastery will be as important to that society as the reconstruction of Notre Dame was for France. For now, it can and will bolster Ukrainians’ dedication to their national and spiritual self-defense.
About the Author:
E. Wayne Merry is a senior fellow for Europe and Eurasia at the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington, DC. Over 26 years in the United States Foreign Service, he worked as a diplomat and political analyst specializing in Soviet and post-Soviet political issues, including six years at the American Embassy in Moscow, where he oversaw political analysis of the Soviet Union’s breakup and the early years of post-Soviet Russia. He also served at the embassies in Tunis, East Berlin, and Athens, as well as at the US Mission to the United Nations in New York. In Washington, he served in the Treasury, State, and Defense Departments. He later served as a program director at the Atlantic Council of the United States.