When news of a Russian missile attack on Odesa’s Transfiguration Cathedral reached Kyrylo Markiv at his home in the early hours of 23 July, the violinist headed not to the nearest bunker but to the smouldering building in his home city’s Unesco-listed historic centre.
Markiv, 27, wanted to help put out the fire, but he was also worried about his violin, a delicate instrument part-made of Ukrainian sycamore wood that he had stored in the cathedral’s choir room overnight. “Marble busts, metal tables, heavy wooden furniture: everything in the room was destroyed,” he recalled. “Only the violin had been protected in its case underneath the rubble. It was a miracle.”
