Unrelenting Strikes: Russia's Retaliatory Assaults Devastate Ukraine, Target Cultural Heritage

Russia intensified its air attacks on Ukraine, targeting Kyiv and striking a maternity ward in Odesa, which left at least three dead. The strikes follow Ukraine's attacks on Russia and have damaged Ukrainian cultural sites, leading to international calls for peace and additional sanctions against Moscow.

Russia launched its most significant air strikes on Kyiv in over three years, targeting a maternity ward in Odesa and claiming the lives of at least three people, officials reported on Tuesday. These strikes followed a massive drone assault on Ukraine, part of what Moscow describes as a retaliation for Ukrainian attacks on Russian soil.

The attack also resulted in damage to Saint Sophia Cathedral, a UNESCO world heritage site in Kyiv, as confirmed by Ukraine's Culture Minister Mykola Tochytsky. The minister lamented the attack, describing it as a strike on the 'heart of our identity.'

Notably, explosions and fires lit up Kyiv's skyline early Tuesday, with one fatality reported. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy criticized the attacks, highlighting the challenges they pose to peace efforts led by the United States and allied countries.

(With inputs from agencies.)