Russian MFA claims Ukraine’s Patriot missile caused strike on Kyiv monastery

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova has denied striking Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra religious complex in Kyiv, alleging that the missile strike was instead caused by a Western-supplied air defence system malfunctioning by Ukraine. 

“A Patriot missile strike on the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. But if it was a Patriot missile, where could it have come from? Who had it at their disposal, and on whose books was it? Of course, it’s Kyiv and the Western suppliers. They’re sending substandard equipment there—and this has been mentioned countless times,” the official said, Caliber.Az reports via Russian media.

 And then this obsolete equipment turns against the Ukrainian people themselves, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and the Kyiv government, and they need to pin the blame on someone. So they make up the story that Russia struck the Lavra. What’s there to say?” she claimed. 

The Russian Ministry of Defence also stated that the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra complex was struck on the night of June 15 by a missile from a U.S.-made Patriot air defence system.

“One of the reasons for the malfunction of this system could be that Western countries supplied the Kyiv authorities with missiles that had expired,” the statement reads.

Earlier, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), however, provided a different version of events, stating that the strike on the historic monastery complex was carried out by a “Geran-2” type unmanned aerial vehicle.

By Sabina Mammadli