(ZENIT News – Contando Estrelas / Lviv, 03.25.2026).- On Tuesday, March 24, the Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russia had carried out one of its largest drone attacks against Ukraine. The daytime airstrike (Russia typically attacks at night) involved 556 drones, many of them Shahed drones of Iranian origin. A large number of the drones originated from the north, specifically from the Chernihiv and Sumy regions, according to the Ukrainian Air Force, and targeted the Poltava, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, and Vinnytsia regions, as well as the western regions of the country, from Khmelnytskyi to Lviv. The Ukrainian Air Force shot down most of the drones, but 15 impacts were recorded nonetheless.
Maksym Kozytsky, Head of the Lviv Regional Military Administration, reported that the Russian attack reached the Bernardine Monastery, located in the historic center of Lviv and part of the International List of Cultural Properties in Need of Enhanced Protection, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Kozytsky indicated that the Russian attack caused a fire that has affected the buildings adjacent to the Monastery.
While Russians spend hundreds of millions a year attempting to convince the world that they are a «Christian nation», churches remain a constant target all across Ukraine.
Today, Russians struck the 17th-century St. Andrew’s Church, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Lviv. pic.twitter.com/POtaauB3EJ
— SPRAVDI — Stratcom Centre (@StratcomCentre) March 24, 2026
At 6:39 p.m. CET, Andriy Sadovy, Mayor of Lviv, reported that 22 people were hospitalized as a result of the attack.
SPRAVDI has published a video showing the crash of an Iranian-made Shahed drone at the Bernardine Monastery. «While the Russians spend hundreds of millions a year trying to convince the world that they are a ‘Christian nation,’ churches remain a constant target throughout Ukraine,» SPRAVDI states. The Bernardine Monastery in Lviv is a 17th-century religious complex belonging to the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, the largest of the Eastern Catholic Churches in communion with Rome. Both the church and the Monastery have been under the care of the Order of St. Basil de Great since 1991.
Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, released a video of the fire caused by the Russian attack on the Monastery, calling on the Director-General of UNESCO «to respond immediately to this crime in the strongest terms,» and adding: «Ukraine will use all available mechanisms to protect our cultural heritage and ensure accountability. Russia’s brutal violations of international law must be met with accountability. Not only the city center, but also residential areas of Lviv have been affected.»
Russia brutally struck the central part of Lviv, a city of exceptional cultural value and UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Damage was caused to the UNESCO World Heritage.
I urge UNESCO Director-General @UNESCO_DG to immediately respond to this crime in the strongest terms.
Ukraine… pic.twitter.com/jGAKmYdYUN
— Andrii Sybiha 🇺🇦 (@andrii_sybiha) March 24, 2026
In these four years of invasion, Russia has attacked some 600 churches in Ukraine, completely destroying 53 Ukrainian religious buildings. Furthermore, in the occupied areas of Ukraine, the invaders have launched a persecution against the Catholic Church, to the point that only one of the 64 Catholic parishes that existed in those territories remains.
