1 dead, cathedral damaged in latest Russian strike on southern Ukraine

The latest Russian attack on Odesa, Ukraine left at least one person dead, 22 others injured and a historic Orthodox cathedral severely damaged. 

Regional Gov. Oleh Kiper said Sunday that four children were among the injured, adding that other residents of the southern Ukrainian city were trapped in their apartments. Six residential buildings, including apartment buildings, were also destroyed in the latest attack, which left much of the city covered in rubble and damaged the power lines, Kiper added.

The strike on the Black Sea port city, which comes days after Russia pulled out of the grain export deal with Kyiv, is the latest in a series of attacks this past week that caused severe damage to its infrastructure.

The damage to the historical cathedral, meanwhile, marks a severe blow to the community of Odesa. The Transfiguration Cathedral is one of the most important and largest in Odesa. Volunteers tried to salvage as many church artifacts as they could after the fires were extinguished. Paintings of the saints remained largely intact.  

Archdeacon Andrii Palchuk said the cathedral took a direct hit from a Russian missile., adding that two people inside the structure at the time of the attack were wounded. 

“The destruction is enormous, half of the cathedral is now roofless,” he said, later saying through tears, “But with God’s help, we will restore it.”

Russia’s defense ministry took credit for the attacks and said in a statement the strikes were carried out with sea- and air-based long-range high-precision weapons. In a later statement, the ministry denied that the attacks struck the cathedral and said its destruction was likely a result of “the fall of a Ukrainian anti-aircraft guided missile.”

Russia’s defense ministry said it attacked places in Odesa, “where terrorist acts against the Russian Federation were being prepared.” It also claimed in the initial statement there were “foreign mercenaries” at the targeted sites. 

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church, to which the cathedral belongs, has been accused of maintaining links to Russia. Ukrainian security agencies have raided some holy sites and discovered some Russian leaflets and passports, which they claim to be evidence of a link to Russia.

Leaders have insisted, however, that the church is loyal to Ukraine and have denounced the Russian invasion from the start.

– The Associated Press contributed.