A Russian missile strike targeting the historic Transfiguration Cathedral in Odesa, Ukraine, yesterday, killed one person and wounded 22. The 18th-century church, destroyed under orders from Stalin in 1936, was rebuilt after the fall of the Soviet Union. On 23 July, the Orthodox cathedral once again fell victim to destruction.
The cathedral lies within Odesa’s historic city center, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the attack was condemned by UNESCO’s director general, Audrey Azoulay.
“This outrageous destruction marks an escalation of violence against [the] cultural heritage of Ukraine,” she said.
“Erasing Identity,” featured in the June edition of ONE magazine, explored this phenomenon of intentional cultural destruction in Ukraine, Syria, Armenia and Iraq. Since the article was filed on 17 May, the number of damaged cultural sites in Ukraine documented by UNESCO on 23 July increased from 254 to 270, including six additional religious sites and five museums.
