The Kremlin on Monday denied that Russia had attacked the Transfiguration Cathedral, the largest Orthodox cathedral in the Ukrainian city of Odessa, stressing that Russian forces never attack social or religious infrastructure.
“We have already said it on several occasions and we can repeat it: our Armed Forces never attack social infrastructures, much less temples, churches and other similar buildings,” said the spokesman for the Russian Presidency, Dmitry Peskov, at the usual daily press conference.
According to the Kremlin, the accusations leveled against Russia are “completely false”.
Peskov claimed that Ukrainian “anti-missiles” launched to intercept Russian projectiles ended up hitting the cathedral.
According to Kiev, the Russian attack – which took place between Saturday night and Sunday morning – damaged 25 monuments in the historic center of Odessa, classified as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), including the Transfiguration Cathedral, restored in 2007.
UNESCO on Sunday condemned “in strong terms” the “brutal attacks carried out by Russian forces”, which hit several sites in central Odessa (southern Ukraine), including the 200-year-old Transfiguration Cathedral.
This Russian attack on the port city of Odessa resulted in the death of one civilian and the injury of more than 20, including four children.
The Russian Defense Ministry said over the weekend that the attack in Odessa was aimed at foreign mercenaries and underwater drones.
“All planned targets have been destroyed,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman General Igor Konashenkov told the daily bulletin on Russian forces’ operations.
Konashenkov explained that among these targets were facilities where Ukrainian troops prepared “terrorist acts against the Russian Federation with the use of drones.”
The Russian attacks were carried out with long-range precision land and sea missiles, which was confirmed by kyiv, which estimated the number of shells launched at Odessa at 19.
Kiev reported that Moscow attacked Odessa with Kalibr, Iskander-K, X-22 and Onyx cruise missiles, as well as Iskander-M ballistic missiles, from land positions on the annexed Crimean peninsula, from submarines in the Black Sea and from Tu-22 supersonic bombers.
In addition, the Ukrainian government noted that Ukrainian anti-aircraft batteries managed to shoot down nine Russian missiles.
Odessa has been the target of massive attacks since Moscow withdrew last Monday from the agreement to export Ukrainian grain from the Black Sea and after Kiev attacked for the second time the bridge linking the Crimean peninsula with mainland Russia.
The information provided by the parties about the situation on the battlefronts cannot be immediately and independently confirmed.
The Russian military offensive on Ukrainian territory, launched on February 24 last year, plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
Source: TSF
