Condemning the attack on his own Telegram channel, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there would «definitely be retaliation» for the attack. «Missiles against peaceful cities, against residential buildings, a cathedral… there can be no excuse for Russian evil,» he said.
A later video posted on social media by the Odesa City Council shows Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov walking through the cathedral, which is covered in rubble and rubble and significantly damaged.
The cathedral belongs to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and was the city’s first church, founded in 1794. The church has been accused of having ties to Russia, though it has insisted on its allegiance to Ukraine, denounced the Russian invasion from the start and declared independence from Moscow.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement Sunday that its forces had attacked sites in Odessa «where terrorist acts against the Russian Federation were being prepared,» according to the Associated Press. It said the attacks had been carried out with long-range sea-based and air-based high-precision weapons, and that there were “foreign mercenaries” at the target sites.