23:10, 07/23/20239 min.684

As a result of the attack, six residential buildings, including apartment buildings, were destroyed and more than forty buildings were damaged.

After Russia’s demonstrative withdrawal from the “grain agreement”, the Russians began to destroy Ukraine’s grain terminals and port infrastructure. But it reaches even the world heritage of UNESCO. 

More than 20 architectural monuments were damaged

About the fact that Odesa is a special city, we had to hear more than once. They say that anyone who has been here at least once wants to return. Odesa, they say, has its own color and magnetism. 

For quite a long time, some townspeople were convinced that “Putin loves Odessa.” However, as it turned out, this is a self-deception: on the night of July 23, the Russian army delivered a massive attack on the city, in particular, the historic center, with cruise missiles of all types of bases: Calibers, Onyxes, X-22s and Iskanders. 

A 49-year-old man died, more than 20 people were injured, including four children.As a result of the attack, six residential buildings, including apartment buildings, were destroyed, more than forty buildings were mutilated – windows were broken, roofs were torn off, facades fell…

The streets were torn apart, fragments of crushed buildings and rockets… Dozens of cars damaged and overturned by the blast wave, many severed power lines.  

The main, most powerful blow fell in the very heart of Odessa – in the historical center, which was recently added to the UNESCO list. According to preliminary data, on the afternoon of July 23, it was known about damage to 25 architectural monuments, including buildings built in the XIX-XX centuries. 

For example, at the intersection of Preobrazhenska Street and Soborna Square, there is the Papudova building, as well as the Russell del Turco building, built in 1910. In addition, the Manuk Bay estate and the Massa residential building, which was built according to the project of the architect Franz Morandi in the middle of the 19th century. 

This building was heavily damaged during the Second World War, but was restored in 1946-1947. 

The houses of Chizhevych, Zabludovskyi, Janusz and others were also damaged.By an evil irony, one of the Russian rockets hit the Transfiguration Cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), located a few meters from Deribasivska Street. 

Even the ministers of the church were shocked by what happened – the central altar was destroyed, part of the building collapsed, the roof of three floors collapsed, and the interior decoration was damaged. 

The icons, including rare ones, were significantly damaged, and the service premises of the lower part of the temple were completely destroyed.

Archdeacon Andriy Palchuk, a cleric of the Odesa Diocese of the UOC (MP), did not hold back his emotions:

“Russian creatures hit the cathedral, which was built by all of Odessa – just the altar, everything was destroyed.

The cathedral is no more… Thank you, Russian “brothers”… Thank you, your holiness (probably this is the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, – UNIAN)…

The Mother of God will not forgive you for this.”According to military-political expert Oleksandr Kovalenko, the church was most likely hit by an enemy Onyx missile. The expert believes that this is evidenced by the corresponding destruction of the building. 

It is worth noting that this building, which has the status of a monument of cultural heritage, was already destroyed – in May 1936, it was done by the Bolsheviks. 

It began to be restored in 1999 and was completed in 2010 – the same infamous Patriarch Kirill was present at the opening ceremony. 

The Russians did more damage than the Nazis

Count Tolstoy’s palace, in which the House of Scientists has been operating for almost 90 years, suffered significant damage. 

As a result of the attack, the ancient stained glass windows were knocked out, the stucco and the ceiling fell in the architectural monument of national importance. 

It was here that a man who worked as a security guard died… Oleksandr Petrovych, who lives near the House of Scientists, told UNIAN that he went out into the yard last night to pick up a cat from the street that was frightened by an air alarm. 

It was at this moment that “it shook”, and the pensioner was swept over by a dirty wave… A rocket exploded near his house. The pet has run away somewhere, and the pensioner cannot find him…

The man from Odesa told how in the 1980s, when he was a graduate student, he ran here to the House of Scientists to have lunch, he remembers every ornament on the walls and every pebble in the yard.”

I was born in Odesa almost immediately after the Second World War. My father was a military man, and he often showed photos of the horrors of that war.

It is scary and painful to watch how scoundrels are now destroying the city that has been yours since childhood. They are destroying civilization, architectural monuments, culture – the world heritage of mankind,” says the citizen.

He calls the Russian military “barbarians who remember neither kinship nor history,” and wonders how it is possible to believe the Kremlin’s narratives, in particular, that “Putin loves Odessa and will not bombard it.”

As Lyubov Zadorozhna from Odesa notes, citizens of the Russian Federation, not having their own, destroy other people’s. 

“Our beloved House of Scientists was practically destroyed. It is a place of beauty… Unparalleled halls…

The Hitlerites did not do as much evil as this abomination in recent days…

But I believe that we will rebuild Odessa together,” the woman emphasizes.

According to the director of the Department of Education and Science of the Odesa City Council, Olena Buynevych, several local educational institutions, five kindergartens, four schools, and two after-school education institutions were affected by the shelling.”

No educational institution in Odesa is a military facility, we are preparing them for the new school year…

We are doing everything possible to restore their work… But two architectural monuments have suffered a lot,” the official states.

There could have been an “arrival” on the dead body

As noted by the city hall, the destruction caused by the night attack by the Russians also occurred in other areas of the city. 

For example, in one of the high-rise buildings on Balkivska Street, which is located relatively far from the destroyed cathedral and the House of Scientists. In the high-rise building, the windows were broken, the balconies were torn off, and the garages crumbled like houses of cards.

A local resident, Hryhoriy, told UNIAN that on the morning of July 23, a mourning ceremony was planned in the yard of this building. 

The other day, his neighbor Serhii, who lived in the high-rise for many years, died. People knew the man and wanted to come to say goodbye. 

The presence of a large number of friends, relatives, and acquaintances was expected.”Imagine, at the very “point” where they wanted to place the coffin, a plane arrived tonight.

And now there is a huge gap. That’s why the relatives moved the ceremony to another place,” said Hryhoriy.According to him, three residents of the apartment building were injured. The victims are currently in the hospital.

The Russian attack was also felt in another district of Odesa, where the UNIAN correspondent lives. 

Here at night, the houses seemed to bounce from powerful explosions, it seemed that the buildings were about to crumble… In particular, in the apartment of the correspondent of the publication, the 7-kilogram door from the “box” with water meters was knocked out of the wall by an explosive wave.

A heavy thing made of metal, concrete and tiles fell to the floor and scattered in the place where the author of these lines was standing a few minutes before.

At the same time, in the neighboring houses, the shutters on the windows and doors were torn off by the explosive wave, the windows burst, and the fragments littered the asphalt.

Hanna Kobelyeva from Odesa notes: it seems that this week will never end.”Tonight, my husband and I were literally thrown up together with the bed by the explosions, and we immediately moved into the corridor – behind the “two walls”. We shuddered from each explosion.

And here the most powerful one was “hanging” somewhere above us… It seemed like it was all a nightmare. You could hear debris falling, neighbors running up the stairs, someone screaming…” – shares Hanna.

She says that trying to sleep after such a cannonade is a disastrous business. So when the air raid warning sounded for the second time in the night, the couple quickly dressed and ran to the nearest bomb shelter – for the first time since February 2022.”

There were many people there – the elderly, children… I will say about myself – there is no panic, only more hatred for the northern neighbor. He did not achieve his goal – to intimidate us,” – believes the woman from Odessa. © photo by Petr Obukhov© photo by Petr Obukhov© photo by Petr Obukhov© photo by Petr Obukhov© photo by Petr Obukhov© photo by Petr Obukhov© photo by Petr Obukhov© photo by Petr Obukhov© photo by Petr Obukhov© photo by Petr Obukhov© photo by Petr Obukhov1 / 5In the afternoon on Sunday, information about the destruction in the city was still being clarified, that is, the number of damaged buildings may increase. 

According to the local authorities, the Russians deliberately directed the rockets at the historical center, which should be under the protection of UNESCO. 

The Russian Federation seeks to destroy the Black Sea city, which is often compared to Venice, Rome, Barcelona, ​​Naples and Paris. © photo of Odesa OVA© photo of Odesa OVA© photo of Odesa OVA© photo of Odesa OVA© photo of Odesa OVA© photo of Odesa OVA© photo of Odesa OVA© photo of Odesa OVA© photo of Odesa OVA© photo of Odesa OVA© photo of Odesa OVA© photo of Odesa OVA© photo of Odesa OVA© photo of Odesa OVA© photo of Odesa OVA1 / 7According to the military, the objects located near the port infrastructure were mainly attacked. 

There were also targeted strikes on the port of Odesa. In total, on the night of July 23, the enemy sent 19 missiles at Odesa, nine of which were shot down by Ukrainian air defense forces…

For reliable protection, Odesa currently needs a powerful air defense system, because it is clear that Russian attacks will continue.

(C)UNIAN 2023