Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Thursday, July 27 during a trip to Odessa, a major Black Sea port targeted several times by Russia, the Transfiguration Cathedral, damaged by a recent bombardment.
“Volodymyr Zelensky inspected the destruction in the Transfiguration Cathedral caused by the recent massive Russian bombings on civilian infrastructure and the historic center of Odessa,” the Ukrainian presidency announced in a statement. “The Head of State has been informed of the extent of the destruction in the church and its current state”, as well as the possibilities of reconstruction, she added.
Before the Ukrainian president, it was the mayor of the city, Gennady Troukhanov, who went to the scene to see the extent of the damage inflicted on the building. The interested party authorized the partial demolition of the cathedral to ensure the stability of the building weakened by the bombardments. “The threat is that the part of the building where this crazy Russian missile fell is moving,” he explained in front of the cathedral. We will immediately start demolishing this wall. It will drag the whole building down with it, if it collapses on its own.”
Before lamenting the damage inflicted on his city, so far relatively spared from the conflict. “Explain to the parishioners that it is not safe. They shouldn’t be here. It’s awful, awful. A tragedy. (…) We had never experienced such attacks in Odessa, this is the first time.”
The largest Orthodox cathedral in Odessa, whose historic center was listed earlier this year by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, the building was damaged on Sunday during a wave of bombardments by Russian forces. According to the presidency, “the altar was completely destroyed and the supporting structure of the building was damaged”.
Founded more than 200 years ago and destroyed by the Soviets in 1936, the Cathedral of the Transfiguration was rebuilt in the early 2000s thanks to numerous donations. It was consecrated in 2010 by the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill. The building falls under the Ukrainian Orthodox Church attached to the Moscow Patriarchate, a branch that severed its ties with Russia after the February 2022 invasion.
The Kremlin denied having targeted this building, assuring that the destruction was caused by Ukrainian anti-aircraft missiles, fired to intercept the Russian rockets which fell on the city.
