War between Ukraine and RussiaFilesAs Ukrainians cleared the rubble of the city’s historic cathedral, the target of a fresh night’s attack, Vladimir Putin met his Belarusian counterpart and staunch ally, Alexander Lukashenko.
Pictures taken on Sunday show damaged icons; the marble on the floor strewn with debris. Covers, richly decorated, now gutted or cracked. Some columns stand only diagonally with their gilded bases. The Transfiguration Cathedral, “the most important sanctuary and spiritual heart of Odessa,” was partially destroyed by Russian rockets on the night of Saturday, July 22 to Sunday, July 23, according to a statement by the diocese on Telegram. “A war crime that will never be forgotten or forgiven,” Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry tweeted.
The cathedral’s fate is the latest symbol of Moscow’s inexorability towards Odessa, a city on the Black Sea coast that is strategic for the region’s maritime traffic and whose historic center was declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco earlier this year. After withdrawing from the agreement on exporting Ukrainian grain to the Black Sea on Monday, July 17, Russia has been targeting port and agricultural infrastructure in the region for the past few days. According to the Ukrainian authorities, two people died and 22 others, including at least four children, were injured in this new night attack.
“The Kremlin Attacks Its Own Holy Sites”
“Missiles against peaceful cities, against apartment buildings, a cathedral blew away Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “For Odessa there will definitely be reprisals against Russian terrorists,” he promised. The Russian army ensures that it only attacks military locations. On Sunday, she claimed to have hit sites where “terrorist attacks against Russia using naval drones were being prepared.”
Odessa’s Transfiguration Cathedral “is not only located in a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but is also part of the Moscow Patriarchate”, remembers the American historian Matthew Pauly on Twitter, specialist in the region. The Kremlin is attacking its own holy sites.” She is a member of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow, a branch of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Worship service in the open air
First a small church built in the late 18th century when Odessa was founded by Tsarina Catherine II, and then transformed into one of the largest cathedrals in the Russian Empire in the early 20th century. The building was destroyed by the Soviets before being rebuilt after the fall of the USSR. The Transfiguration Cathedral in Odessa was dedicated in July 2010 by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow himself, a staunch supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the war he was waging in Ukraine. “Established in 1794; Destroyed in 1936 on Stalin’s orders; Rebuilt in 1999 under Ukraine’s independence; hit by a Russian missile in 2023 on the orders of Putin.” summarizes on Twitter Sergiy Kyslytsyathe Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations.
While dozens of Ukrainians were busy clearing the rubble in Odessa Cathedral and the priests, who were deprived of a place of worship, organized their open-air service, Vladimir Putin met his Belarusian counterpart and loyal ally Alexander Lukashenko on Sunday and for two days in Saint Petersburg.
“Bad mood”
The two leaders should talk about the “strategic and alliance partnership” between their countries and “security in our region,” the Russian president said in a speech broadcast on Russian television, a month after the failed Wagner militia uprising in Russia, which the Belarusian leader officially helped end, a spectacular episode that shook the Kremlin. Their leader, Evgueni Prigoyine, had claimed he wanted to overthrow the Russian military hierarchy. After the mutiny, it was agreed between the parties that Wagner’s fighters should sign a contract with the regular Russian army, enter civilian life, or go to Belarus.
Lukashenko assured on Sunday that he would “keep” Wagner’s militiamen in the middle of the country and claimed to “control” the situation. “However, you are in a bad mood,” he warned his Russian counterpart, and “urge you to take a walk west,” citing the Polish cities of Warsaw and Rzeszów. The autocrat, who is heavily dependent on Moscow, echoed Vladimir Putin’s comments on Friday, accusing Poland of wanting to transfer “territories” from western Ukraine to Poland. With Wagner’s mercenaries close to its eastern flank, NATO member Poland decided this week to send military units to its border with neighboring Belarus.
As a sign of propaganda that was not always so well oiled, Lukashenko also asserted in front of the cameras that there had been “no counter-offensive” by the Ukrainians. “There is one,” Putin interrupted. But she failed.