Russia’s latest missile attack on Odesa left two dead Sunday, wounded many and badly damaged a UNESCO-listed Orthodox cathedral, drawing a vow of retaliation from Ukraine’s leader.
Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelensky promised on Sunday to strike back at Russia for the deadly attack, which involved 19 missiles, killed two, and wounded 22 people, on the port city of Odesa. Russia has pounded the historical center of Odesa since quitting the Black Sea grain deal.
Kyiv also said the Orthodox Savior and Transfiguration Cathedral under UNESCO protection in the historic city center was destroyed, calling it a “war crime that will never be forgotten and forgiven.”
Andriy Palchuk, archdeacon of the cathedral, told that people in the cathedral at the time of the attack survived.
Moscow said it had hit all its intended targets in the Odesa strike, claiming the sites were being used to prepare “terrorist acts” against Russia.
Odesa has been bombed several times since the start of the invasion, and in January the United Nations cultural agency UNESCO designated the historic center of the city as a World Heritage in Danger site.
Kyiv has accused Russia of targeting grain supplies and infrastructure vital to any resumption of Ukrainian grain exports.
Georges Haddad, with AFP
