Historic cathedral badly damaged after Russian missile strike in Odesa

The historical Transfiguration Cathedral in Odesa has been badly damaged by Russian strikes, the city council said.

Footage shows debris scattered across the floor of the site after missiles hit the port city overnight, which killed at least one person and injured 19 more.

Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko visited the damaged cathedral on Sunday 23 July and shared a video calling for more protection.

"Again Russia used all types of missiles to destroy our city," he said.

"I address the world, Odesa needs more protection."

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[mariaROEurope]

A Russian can demolish residential areas, hit children and women in parks. But if in 16 months they purposefully did not hit a single church, then I don't think they hit the Russian church in Odessa.

[risa_sh.youtube]

*Nam myoho rengekyo 🙏 pray 🌍 peace 🕊️ be safe*

[vibhvesh]

Russian Ministry of Defense statement:

"The most likely reason for the destruction of the cathedral was the fall of a Ukrainian anti-aircraft guided missile and the inept actions of air defense system operators."

[Siempre]

"MOSCOW, July 23. /TASS/. The most probable cause of the destruction of the Transfiguration Cathedral in Odessa was the fall of a Ukrainian missile due to unprofessional actions of the air defense, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"Judging by the video footage of the Transfiguration Cathedral published by local residents, the most probable cause of its destruction was the fall of a Ukrainian anti-aircraft guided missile as a result of incompetent actions of the operators of air defense systems, which the Ukrainian forces deliberately placed in residential areas, including in the city of Odessa, " the Defense Ministry said.

The Defense Ministry specified that Kiev's information about the destruction of the Transfiguration Cathedral in Odessa as a result of a high-precision strike does not correspond to reality. According to the ministry, "the planning of strikes with high-precision weapons against military and terrorist infrastructure facilities of the Kiev regime is carried out on the basis of thoroughly checked and confirmed through several information channels, knowingly excluding the destruction of civilian facilities where there are civilians, as well as objects of cultural and historical heritage."