Russian missile attack on Odesa damages historic Orthodox cathedral

One person was killed and 19 others were injured

On the night of July 23, Russia launched a missile attack on Odesa. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia launched 19 missiles:

• Five Onyx cruise missiles were launched from the Bastion coastal defense missile system in annexed Crimea.
• Three Kh-22 air-launched cruise missiles from Tu-22M3 aircraft in the Black Sea.
• Four sea-launched Kalibr cruise missiles believed to be launched from a submarine in the Black Sea.
• Five Iskander-K ground-launched cruise missiles and two Iskander-M ballistic missiles launched from Crimea.

Ukrainian air defense systems were able to destroy nine missiles, including four Kalibr missiles and five Iskander missiles.

The Russian attack on Odesa caused the destruction of port infrastructure. At least six residential homes, including an apartment building, and dozens of vehicles were also damaged.

Local military administration head Yuriy Kruk called the overnight attack on Odesa the largest Russian attack on the city’s historic center since the start of the full-scale invasion.

In the center of the city, one Russian missile hit the Transfiguration Cathedral, Odesa’s largest Orthodox church, belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. The cathedral was founded in 1795. The Soviet authorities closed the cathedral and then destroyed it in 1936. In the early 2000s, the cathedral was rebuilt in the same location. In 2010, the cathedral was consecrated by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow.

According to local authorities, the cathedral sustained significant damage, and a fire broke out in the building. “Orthodox shrines were damaged. The Kasperovskaya Icon of the Mother of God, which is the patron saint of Odesa, was pulled out from under the rubble,” reported the city’s administration.

“The destruction is colossal, it hit the right side and broke through to the basement. Half of the cathedral was left without a roof. The central piles and the foundation were destroyed. All the windows and stucco moulding were blown out. There was a fragmentary fire, the part where icons and candles are sold in the church caught fire,” archdeacon Andriy Palchuk told Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne.

Odesa regional governor Oleh Kiper reported that one person was killed, and 19 others were injured in the attack, including four children. 14 people were hospitalized.

The local House of Scientists and Mikhail Zhvanetsky Boulevard were also damaged in the attack. According to the outlet Dumskaya, nearly all the old stained glass windows were broken and furniture inside the House of Scientists, a nationally significant landmark, was damaged. Five kindergartens, four schools, and two other educational institutions in the city center were damaged in the attack.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that “there will definitely be a retaliation” to this attack.

At a briefing on July 23, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported that they carried out strikes on Odesa using high-precision weapons, specifically targeting the location “where terrorist acts against Russia, which employed unmanned surface vehicles, were prepared.” Spokesperson for Russia’s Defense Ministry Igor Konashenkov said that “foreign mercenaries” were located at the target locations, and that “all of the attack’s targets were destroyed.” Since July 18, Russia has been targeting port infrastructure in the south of Ukraine, and specifically in Odesa. Russia has called these attacks “retaliation” for the explosion on the Crimean bridge.

Later, Russia’s Defense Ministry added that they didn’t attack the Transfiguration Cathedral, instead claiming that an anti-aircraft missile from Ukraine’s air defense systems likely fell on the cathedral. The Russian Orthodox Church has not yet commented on the destruction of the cathedral.