One dead after Russian missile attacks hit Odesa’s historic Orthodox cathedral

On Sunday, Russia continued its onslaught of assaults against southern Ukraine’s vital port infrastructure, damaging the city of Odesa on the Black Sea.

The early morning incident left at least one person dead and 22 others injured, according to authorities.

Four children were among those injured, said to regional governor Oleh Kiper, in the explosions that seriously damaged 25 major sites, including the famed Transfiguration Cathedral.

After the flames were put out, volunteers at the Orthodox church put on hard helmets, shovels, and brooms to start clearing the debris and searching through it for any valuables while being watched over by the saints whose paintings were still in place.

Local authorities said that the patroness of the city’s symbol was found beneath the debris.

Archdeacon Andrii Palchuk stated, “The destruction is enormous, half of the cathedral is now roofless,” as cathedral staff removed important papers and valuables from the structure, which had been flooded with water used by firemen to put out the fire.

According to Palchuk, the devastation was brought on by a direct impact from a Russian missile that entered the structure all the way to the bottom. When the strike occurred, there were two persons inside who were hurt.

But we will repair it with God’s assistance, he added, breaking down in tears.

One of the women who came to assist with cleaning stated she adored the church “for its tranquility and grace.”

Liudmyla, who only used her first name, said that entering this chapel made her feel as if she was outside of time and space. “I have a feeling that God took this suffering and this explosion upon himself to protect apartments.”

Anna Fetchenko helped to clean the debris when she was in Odesa for a volunteer gathering. She remarked, “Last night was so terrifying that I sobbed for the first time in 2023. I wanted to go to the ocean.

This is our legacy as Ukrainians, and it has been snatched from us.

Later on Sunday, Palchuk asked people to attend an outdoor service in front of the cathedral’s devastated section and to offer prayers in front of a precious icon that “miraculously survived.”

He responded, “We shall hope that it shields us from the Russians.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has been accused of having ties to Russia, owns the cathedral. The church has steadfastly maintained its allegiance to Ukraine, has vigorously condemned the Russian invasion, and has even proclaimed its independence from Moscow.

However, certain members of the Ukrainian church, according to Ukrainian security officials, have kept strong relations to Moscow. As evidence that certain church leaders have been loyal to Russia, they have stormed various church holy places and then released images of rubles, Russian passports, and pamphlets with words from the Moscow patriarch.

Despite resistance from Russia, UNESCO recognized the ancient town of Odesa as a World Heritage Site in Danger earlier this year.

Six residential structures were reportedly demolished by the attacks, according to Kiper.

Following the assault, which left debris scattered in the street and partially obstructing the road, several residents found themselves stuck in their flats.

The 85-year-old Svitlana Molcharova was saved by first responders. But after receiving medical attention, she resisted leaving her demolished residence.

She told the employee who told her to go, “I will remain here.

“When the ceiling began to collapse on me, I woke up. Ivan Kovalenko, a 19-year-old building occupant, claimed, “I raced into the hallway. “I lost my house in Mykolaiv that way, and I lost my rented apartment here.”

His apartment had a balcony that protruded from the building’s side and a partly collapsed ceiling. The windows had all been blasted out.

Russia has fired 19 missiles in the Odesa area, including four sea-to-shore Kalibr cruise missiles and five high-precision winged Onyx missiles, according to a report from the Ukrainian air force on the Telegram messaging app. It claimed that nine were shot down by Ukrainian air defenses.

The Defense Ministry of Russia said on Sunday that its troops had bombed locations in Odesa “where terrorist acts against the Russian Federation were being prepared.”

The ministry afterwards issued a statement denying that their strikes had hit the Transfiguration Cathedral and asserting that the cathedral’s devastation was probably caused by “the fall of a Ukrainian anti-aircraft guided missile.”

Since canceling a historic grain contract on Monday in response to Kyiv’s relentless attempts to reclaim its seized territory, Russia has been unleashing consistent strikes on Odesa, a crucial gateway for grain exports.

According to Ukraine’s Agriculture Ministry, earlier Russian assaults this week disrupted substantial portions of export facilities in Odesa and the neighboring Chornomorsk and destroyed 60,000 tons of grain.

The strikes occur only days after Russian President Vladimir Putin withdrew his country from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a wartime agreement that allowed shipments from Ukraine to numerous nations that were in danger of going hungry.

In response to a Monday assault on the vital Kerch Bridge, which connects Russia with the Crimean Peninsula that the Kremlin illegitimately acquired in 2014, Putin promised to exact revenge on Kyiv.

Additional developments

Two days after Moscow warned Poland that any assault against its neighbor and partner would be seen as an attack on Russia, Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko met on Sunday in St. Petersburg.

At the beginning of the meeting, Putin said that negotiations will also take place on Monday and criticized Kyiv’s counteroffensive.

Almost a month after their brief uprising against Moscow, Wagner forces began conducting joint exercises with the Belarusian military on Thursday. According to Lukashenko, the men intended to go to Warsaw and Rzeszow in Poland but Belarus would not let them to do so.

“As we promised, I’m keeping them in central Belarus. Wagner’s situation is within our control, he said.

Two persons were killed in Russian attacks on the northeastern province on Saturday, when Russia struck populous areas of the Kharkiv, Chuhuiv, Kupiansk, and Izium districts, according to the regional governor of Kharkiv, Oleh Syniehubov.

Four inhabitants of the eastern area were murdered and 11 others were injured in assaults the day before, according to Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.