At least one person was killed and 22 others wounded in early morning missile strikes on the Ukrainian Black Sea city of Odesa, according to officials.
Four children were among those wounded, while blasts also severely damaged 25 landmarks across the city, including the historic Transfiguration Cathedral.
Russia has been launching repeated attacks on Odesa, a key hub for exporting grain, since Moscow cancelled a landmark grain deal on Monday, in response to Kyiv’s ongoing efforts to retake its occupied territories.
The latest strikes come as Odesa‘s historic centre was designated an endangered World Heritage Site by Unesco earlier this year due to the invasion. The UN body called for the attacks “against cultural property” to stop following Russia’s offensive.
Other buildings damaged included the Odesa Archaeological Museum and the Odesa Maritime Museum.
The damaged Transfiguration Cathedral in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa— (REUTERS)
The cathedral belongs to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has previously been accused of links to Russia— (REUTERS)
After fires were put out at the Orthodox cathedral, volunteers picked up shovels and brooms to begin removing debris, and combed through rubble to salvage any artifacts.
Officials said the icon of the patron of the city was among the sacred objects retrieved from the rubble.
“The destruction is enormous, half of the cathedral is now roofless,” said Archdeacon Andrii Palchuk, as workers continued to bring valuables out of the building. The floor had been flooded with the water that firefighters had used to extinguish the blaze.
Palchuk said that the cathedral received a direct hit from a Russian missile that penetrated the building down to the basement. Two people in the building were wounded.
“But with God’s help, we will restore it,” he said, bursting into tears as he spoke.
Anna Fetchenko was one volunteer helping to clear the debris. “I wanted to go to the seaside, but last night was so frightening that I cried for the first time in 2023,” she said.
“This is our Ukrainian heritage, and now it’s taken away from us.”
A woman who came to help with the cleanup said she loved the cathedral “for its tranquility and grace”.
Liudmyla, another volunteer who only gave her first name, said: “When you enter this church, you feel like you’re beyond the world”.
“I have a feeling that God, to protect apartments, took this pain, this explosion upon himself.”
Later on Sunday, Palchuk gathered people in front of the destroyed part of the cathedral for an outdoor service, praying in front of a sacred icon that “miraculously survived”.
“We will pray that it protects us from the Russians,” he said.
Local residents clean an area outside the damaged Transfiguration Cathedral in Odesa— (AFP via Getty Images)
The cathedral belongs to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has been accused of having ties with Russia.
The church has insisted that it’s loyal to Ukraine, denounced the Russian invasion from the start, and has declared its independence from Moscow.
But Ukrainian security agencies have claimed that some in the church continue to have close ties with Moscow.
Security personnel have raided church holy sites, and later posted photos of rubles, Russian passports and leaflets with messages from the Moscow patriarch as proof that some church officials have been loyal to Russia.
The interior of the damaged Transfiguration Cathedral— (Telegram)
Odesa‘s historic centre was designated an endangered World Heritage Site by Unesco earlier this year— (EPA)
Regional governer Oleh Kiper said that six residential buildings were destroyed by the most recent strikes.
Some people were trapped in their apartments following the attack, which left rubble strewn in the street.
Svitlana Molcharova, 85, was rescued by emergency workers. But after she received first aid, she refused to leave her destroyed apartment.
“I will stay here,” said Molcharova to the worker who advised her to leave.
Ivan Kovalenko, a 19-year-old resident of the same building, said: “I woke up when the ceiling started to fall on me.”
Machinery at Odesa’s grain terminal. The most recent attacks come days after Vladimir Putin pulled Russia out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative— (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
Ukraine’s air force reported on Telegram that Russia had launched 19 missiles in the Odesa region, including five high-precision winged Onyx missiles and four sea-to-shore Kalibr cruise missiles.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Sunday that its forces attacked sites in Odesa “where terrorist acts against the Russian Federation were being prepared”.
The ministry later denied that its attacks struck the Transfiguration Cathedral, claiming the destruction of the cathedral was likely due to “the fall of a Ukrainian anti-aircraft guided missile”.
The attacks come days after President Vladimir Putin pulled Russia out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a wartime deal that has enabled Ukraine’s exports to reach many countries facing the threat of hunger.
Earlier Russian attacks have crippled significant parts of export facilities in Odesa, destroying 60,000 tons of grain, according to Ukraine’s Agriculture Ministry.
Putin had also vowed to retaliate against Kyiv for an attack Monday on the Kerch Bridge, which is a crucial link between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, which the Kremlin illegally annexed in 2014.
