In pics | Russia's 'brazen' attack on Transfiguration Cathedral in Ukraine's Odesa

Russia conducted airstrikes in the Ukrainian southern port of Odesa, on Sunday (July 23) morning which has led to the death of one person and injured at least 20 others, said the officials in Kyiv. The attack also severely damaged an Orthodox Spaso-Preobrazhenskyi Cathedral or the Transfiguration Cathedral. 

According to Oleh Kiper, governor of the Odesa region, one person was killed and were 19 injured due to the attack, including four children.

"Odesa: another night attack of the monsters," Kiper, on the Telegram messaging app. 

He also said that the missile attacks destroyed six houses and apartment buildings. 14 people were hospitalised after the attack which took place at 3:00 am (local time), said the Ukrainian official. 

Spaso-Preobrazhenskyi Cathedral which is a Moscow-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) and the country's second-largest Church was first consecrated in 1809. 

The first and foremost Orthodox church in Odesa was founded in 1794, according to UNESCO. 

As per Reuters, most Ukrainian Orthodox believers belong to a separate branch of the faith formed four years ago by uniting branches independent of Russian authority.

Notably, Kyiv has repeatedly accused the UOC of maintaining links to the pro-invasion Russian Orthodox Church. However, the UOC said it broke ties in May, last year after the invasion began on February 24. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky among those injured due to the overnight strikes included four children aged 11 to 17. He added, at least 50 buildings were damaged, 25 of them architectural monuments, and the Greek consulate was among the affected structures.

"All these missiles target not just cities, villages or people, but humanity and the foundations of our entire European culture," said the Ukrainian president. 

"Missiles against peaceful cities, against residential buildings, a cathedral. There will definitely be a retaliation against Russian terrorists for Odesa. They will feel this retaliation," Zelensky had said earlier on Sunday. 

The Ukrainian president has also accused Russia of using 19 types of missiles to cause maximum destruction. 

The Ukrainian defence ministry, on Sunday, noted that the Transfiguration Cathedral has been "destroyed twice," now by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.

Notably, the early 19th-century cathedral was first demolished in 1936 as part of Stalin's anti-religious campaigns and was rebuilt by Ukraine after gaining independence from Moscow in 1991. 

Images show that parts of the cathedral were destroyed with floors covered in rubble and chunks of the ornate walls ripped off. Local residents were also seen entering the building and came to assist with cleaning up the rubble.

The Spaso-Preobrazhenskyi Cathedral's archdeacon, Andriy Palchuk, told Reuters the missile strike had started a fire that only affected one corner of the cathedral which contained non-historic religious artefacts for purchase by worshippers.

The cathedral, according to the Ukrainian president, was hit by a Kh-22, a Cold War-era missile designed to hit United States aircraft carriers.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni issued a statement condemning the attack and offered assistance in the reconstruction of the cathedral.

Earlier on Sunday, Moscow said that all the intended targets were hit in Odesa port, claiming those sites were being used for preparing "terrorist acts" against Russia. 

"At night the armed forces of the Russian Federation carried out a strike... on facilities where terrorist acts against the Russian Federation using unmanned boats were prepared. All planned targets in the strikes were destroyed," said the Russian army, in a statement. 

However, Russian defence ministry, later said Ukrainian reports of the airstrike on the cathedral were false.

It added, that the targets in Odesa were located "a safe distance" from the cathedral complex and in turn blamed Ukrainian anti-aircraft missiles as a "probable cause" for the damage to the cathedral. 
 

The United Nations cultural agency, UNESCO, released a statement, on Sunday and condemned Russia's "brazen" attack on Odesa, also home to the World Heritage property ‘The Historic Centre of Odesa’.

"UNESCO is deeply dismayed and condemns in the strongest terms the brazen attack carried out by the Russian forces, which hit several cultural sites in the city center of Odesa..." 

"This act of hostility comes only days after other attacks that impacted many cultural heritage sites in areas protected under the World Heritage Convention in Lviv and Odesa," said the Paris-based UN agency. 

UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay said the attack marked "an escalation of violence against (the) cultural heritage of Ukraine," and urged Russia "to take meaningful action to comply with its obligations under international law..." 

UNESCO will field also a mission to Odesa in the "coming days" to conduct a preliminary assessment of damages, said the statement, on Sunday.

The UN agency also noted that these attacks contradict recent statements by Russian officials "about precautions taken to spare World Heritage sites in Ukraine." It also warned Moscow that "intentional destruction of cultural sites may amount to a war crime."