Russia strikes Odesa cathedral, Putin claims counteroffensive ‘failed’

In Russian, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed Kyiv’s counteroffensive had “failed” as he met his closest ally, Belarus chief Alexander Lukashenko, in Saint Petersburg.

The 18th-century Transfiguration Cathedral, the largest Orthodox church in Odesa, lies inside the UNESCO-protected historic metropolis centre.

UNESCO condemned the “brazen” assault on Odesa, which hit a number of websites within the port metropolis’s World Heritage centre. The assault marked “an escalation of violence towards (the) cultural heritage of Ukraine”, stated UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay.

The strike on Odesa, which Russia has pounded since quitting the Black Sea grain deal final week, got here simply hours earlier than Russian President Vladimir Putin met his Belarus counterpart for talks.

On the Black Sea in Odesa, locals regarded in disbelief because the Transfiguration Cathedral — initially inbuilt 1794 underneath imperial Russian rule — was hit.

Clergymen rescued icons from rubble contained in the badly broken shrine, which was demolished underneath Stalin in 1936 and rebuilt within the Nineteen Nineties after the collapse of the Soviet Union. 

Ukraine stated it had been “destroyed twice: by Stalin and Putin”, denouncing the cathedral strike as a “battle crime”.

President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed retaliation: “They are going to positively really feel this,” he stated.

– Icons pulled from the rubble –

Photos confirmed smashed mosaics on the cathedral flooring as staff cleared the rubble. The skin of the constructing appeared intact. 

“There was a direct hit to the cathedral,” stated Father Myroslav, the assistant rector of the cathedral. “It utterly broken three altars.

Icons had been pulled out from underneath the rubble and the shrine was “very badly broken inside”, with “solely the bell tower intact”, he added.

Clergymen stated a safety guard and a priest preparing for a morning liturgy had been inside in the course of the assault however each survived.

Russia blamed the cathedral harm on Ukrainian air defence. It stated it had hit all its meant targets within the Odesa strike, claiming the websites had been getting used to organize “terrorist acts” towards Russia. 

However native individuals stated Russia had hit bizarre residential areas.

“Now we have bizarre residential buildings right here, the place individuals stay,” a lady who owns a magnificence salon close by, Tetiana, instructed AFP. 

“There are not any army services right here. Simply easy magnificence salons, a marine company, a groomer. Nothing army right here in any respect.” 

Anzhelika Domanska stated she ran together with her neighbours when she noticed the cathedral burning.

The strike got here a 12 months after a missile had hit her home in close by Mykolaiv. 

“It’s not a nice anniversary,” she stated. 

Russia launched a wave of assaults on the Black Sea port this week, after exiting a deal permitting the protected passage of cargo ships between Moscow, Kyiv, Istanbul and the UN. 

Ukraine has vowed to discover a technique to proceed exports from the ports and stated Sunday repeated Russian strikes on Odesa this week had been an try and “stop and  neutralise worldwide efforts to revive the functioning of the “grain hall.” 

– Putin meets Lukashenko –

As Odesa cleared rubble from the Russian strikes, Putin hosted his ally Lukashenko in his native metropolis of Saint Petersburg — their first assembly since Minsk helped finish a revolt by Russia’s Wagner pressure.

Each leaders had been dismissive of the Ukrainian counteroffensive to take again land captured by Russia.

“There isn’t any counteroffensive,” Lukashenko stated on the assembly, earlier than being interrupted by Putin: “There’s one, but it surely has failed.”

The Belarus strongman now hosts Wagner fighters on his territory, after brokering a deal that satisfied its chief Yevgeny Prigozhin to finish a march on Moscow and exile himself to Belarus. 

“We’re controlling what is occurring (with Wagner),” he stated, thanking Putin for vowing to defend Belarus ought to or not it’s attacked. 

Wagner’s presence in Belarus has rattled EU and NATO member Poland, which has strengthened its border.

On Sunday, Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak stated a brand new battalion of sappers can be shaped within the nation’s northeast.

Polish, US, British, Romanian and Croatian troopers had been coaching “shoulder to shoulder”, he stated, throughout a go to to the northeastern metropolis of Augustow.

The feedback got here two days after Putin stated western Poland was a “present” from Stalin on the finish of World Struggle II, when victorious allies selected the contours of post-war Europe. Warsaw had summoned the Russian ambassador over the remarks.

Each Putin and Lukashenko additionally accused Warsaw of getting territorial ambitions on Ukraine and Belarus.

Ukraine’s Overseas Minister Dmytro Kuleba responded rapidly on Twitter.

“Putin’s makes an attempt to drive a wedge between Kyiv and Warsaw are as futile as his failing invasion of Ukraine,” he wrote.

“Not like Russia, Poland and Ukraine have discovered from historical past and can all the time stand united towards Russian imperialism and disrespect for worldwide legislation.”

Preventing in Ukraine continued Sunday, with Russia launching 17 cruise missiles and two ballistic missiles, in accordance with the Ukraine military.

“Russian occupants proceed to rob civilians, appropriating the grain harvest of Ukrainian civilians,” the final employees assertion added.

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Initially printed as Russia strikes Odesa cathedral, Putin claims counteroffensive ‘failed’