Russian air strikes on Kyiv have killed at least four people and set the Dormition Cathedral on fire, the BBC reports. The cathedral dates back to the 11th century and is part of a complex of monastic buildings known as the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. UNESCO designated the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra as a World Heritage Site in 1990 and describes it as ‘one of the most important Christian pilgrimage centres in the world’. The UN agency said that there has been ‘significant damage to the exterior and interior’ of the building. Reuters reports that Russia has denied hitting the site and that it has blamed the damage on a US-made air defence missile. The Art Newspaper reports that Russian strikes have also damaged the Mystetskyi Arsenal, an 18th-century building that is now a contemporary art centre.
The National Audit Office (NAO) has said that the Palace of Westminster is in ‘urgent need of work’ and that the overall cost of the project will increase by £320m–£420m for every year MPs delay the decision to repair the building. In a report published on 15 June, the NAO cited ‘deteriorating mechanical and electrical systems, fire safety issues [and] the presence of asbestos’ as reasons for urgent renovation. MPs voted in 2018 to renovate the palace – a Grade 1 listed building within a World Heritage site – but the committee overseeing the project has set MPs a deadline of 2030 to decide on one of four options, of which it recommends two: the ‘full decant’, in which MPs relocate elsewhere, or a refurbishment in which MPs would remain in place for most of the works. The first option would cost £11bn–£16bn and would take up to 24 years; the second would take up to six decades and would cost £39bn. The NAO has warned that further inaction may render the Houses of Parliament ‘uninhabitable’.
