Vladimir Putin branded 'Kremlin Antichrist' after setting 1,000-year-old church on fire in deadly Kyiv blitz

Vladimir Putin has been branded the "Kremlin Antichrist" after his forces set a 1,000-year-old monastery in Kyiv on fire in a devastating attack across Ukraine.

Five people have been killed in the country's second-largest city Kharkiv, four are dead and at least 23 are injured in Kyiv, with power also cut for hundreds of thousands of people.

In the Russian city of Tula, three people were killed and another three injured as Ukraine hit back, targeting industrial and energy facilities over the border.

Kyiv's Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the attack damaged electricity lines and left 140,000 residents without power.

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While the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, a monastery dating back to 1051, was seriously damaged in the attack.

Dramatic images show firefighters combatting a blaze ripping through the roof of the place of worship.

The monastery, designated a Unesco World Heritage site in 1990, was listed as endangered in 2023 and has previously been struck by a Russian drone.

Fewer than 250 metres away, the Mystetskyi Arsenal Arts and Culture Museum Complex was also left on fire after the strikes, with Ukrainian firefighters using ladders to extinguish the flames.

The building was designated a national monument in 2010 and hosts Ukraine's largest annual book fair.

The head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan Epiphanius, said: "What more must the Kremlin Antichrist do for the world to realise that decisive action must be taken so that the Russian terror against Ukraine and the very principles of peace comes to an end?"

Nato member Poland scrambled fighter jets and ground-based air defence systems to a state of readiness, its armed forces said in a social media statement.

Ukraine's Prime Minister described the Russian bombardment as "a brutal assault on our people and our heritage".

Kyiv residents took refuge in bomb shelters and metro stations during the Russian raid.

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Five emergency service rescuers died in Kharkiv, according to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, with three people, including a child, injured in Somy.

Tula, an industrial cluster south of Moscow, was struck by Ukraine as it intensified targets on Russian industrial and energy facilites.

Earlier on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had spoken with Donald Trump and discussed efforts to achieve an end to the war.

Posting on Telegram, he said: "We talked about what could help to bring peace closer right now, and I updated the President on the latest developments on the battlefield and how our position has strengthened."

The discussions are being held ahead of the G7 meeting in Evian, where world leaders are set to discuss the state of the war.

The Kremlin said Mr Trump had told Mr Putin that ending the conflict in Ukraine was "vital".

"In Evian, the Europeans and Zelensky will try to present everything to be precisely the opposite and will propose ideas aimed at dragging out the conflict and continuing hostilities," Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov sputtered.

Mr Ushakov said he expected US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to visit Russia again soon.

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