The Transfiguration Cathedral in Odesa in southern Ukraine, partially destroyed by a Russian missile’s direct hit, July 23, 2023

EA on India’s WION News: Fact v. Propaganda on Cluster Munitions in Ukraine

Sunday’s Coverage: 23+ Casualties in 5th Russian Missile Strikes on Odesa This Week

Map: Institute for Study of War

UPDATE 1858 GMT:

Russian fire has killed a child and wounded six civilians, including three children, in Kostiantynivka in eastern Ukraine.

Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko, said Russian forces launched Smerch rockets at “a local pond, where people were resting”.

UPDATE 1850 GMT:

Agence France Presse journalist Dylan Collins has been wounded in a Russian drone attack on a Ukrainian artillery position near Bakhmut in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.

Collins, 35, sustained multiple shrapnel injuries. He was evacuated to a nearby hospital, where doctors said his condition was not life-threatening. AFP said he is conscious and speaking to colleagues.

AFP video journalist Arman Soldin was killed on May 9 by a Russia rocket attack near Chasiv Yar, west of Bakhmut.

See also Reporting Inhumanity and Humanity From Bosnia to Ukraine: The Story of Arman Soldin

UPDATE 1841 GMT:

Spain has despatched four German-made Leopard 2A4 battle tanks and 10 armored personnel carriers to Ukraine.

The Spanish Defense Ministry said a ship with military and humanitarian aid has left the port of Santander, with the supplies expected to be delivered to Ukraine’s armed forces by early August.

Spain has already sent six Leopard 2s to Ukraine.

The shipment also includes the 10 M-113 armored personnel carriers, ten Navy trucks, one multipurpose armored vehicle, three civil ambulances, one BMR armored ambulance, and one armored civilian ambulance

UPDATE 1833:

UN Secretary General António Guterres has called on Russia to return to the July 2022 deal lifting Moscow’s blockade on three Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea.

Vladimir Putin ripped up the deal last Monday, threatening global food security by halting exports of grains, foodstuffs, and other essential goods. Russia forces have followed with a series of missile and drone attacks on port and grain infrastructure.

Guterres said at the Food Systems summit in Rome:

With the termination of the Black Sea Initiative, the most vulnerable will pay the highest price.

When food prices rise, everybody pays for it. This is especially devastating for vulnerable countries struggling to feed their people.

On July 11, Guterres proposed to Putin that the deal be extended with a daily limit of four ships traveling to Ukraine and four ships leaving. In return, a subsidiary of Russia’s Agricultural Bank, Rosselkhozbank, would be reconnected to the SWIFT global payments system.

Guterres said today:

I call on the Russian Federation to return to the implementation of the Black Sea Initiative, in line with my latest proposal.

I urge the global community to stand united for effective solutions in this essential effort.

I remain committed to facilitating the unimpeded access to global markets for food products and fertilisers from both Ukraine and the Russian Federation, and to deliver the food security that every person deserves.

UPDATE 1829 GMT:

Footage from Bakhmut in easterrn Ukraine, leveled by Russian forces and mercenaries in a year-long assault, from Christopher Miller of the Financial Times:

UPDATE 1007 GMT:

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has condemned Russian attacks against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure on the Danube River near Romania.

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry highlighted the Russian attacks:

UPDATE 1001 GMT:

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has lied that the Transfiguration Cathedral in Odesa was struck by a Ukrainian air defense missile.

Peskov declared, “Our armed forces never strike at social infrastructure facilities, let alone temples, churches and other similar facilities, so we do not accept such accusations.”

UPDATE 0912 GMT:

Monday’s early-morning attack by two drones on Moscow was a special operation of the Ukraine military intelligence service GUR, Ukrainian officials have told RBC-Ukraine.

The officials said, “All the birds flew to Moscow”.

A “source in the security and defense sector” confirmed the GUR’s involvement to Ukrayinska Pravda, “Cooperation between volunteers and structures gives good results, to be continued.

UPDATE 0904 GMT:

Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar reports a further gradual advance on the eastern front of Ukraine’s counter-offensive.

Forces liberated another 4 square km (1.5 square miles) south of the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, bringing the total in the area to 35 sq km.

Maliar said the situation north of Bakhmut was unchanged. Elsewhere in the Donetsk region, a “decent resistance” was holding back Russian assaults in “severe hostilities” near Kupyansk, Lyman, Avdiivka, and Mariinka.

UPDATE 0847 GMT:

In the aftermath of Russia’s missile strike on the Transfiguration Cathedral in Odesa in southern Ukraine, Archbishop Viktor of the Odesa Diocese has called out Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill and the members of the Orthodox Church’s synod in a personal letter.

Viktor wrote that through Kirill’s personal blessing, Russian soldiers are waging war against Ukraine and committing atrocities.

Referring to Sunday’s damage of the Cathedral, Viktor commented, “I saw that the Russian missile that you blessed had struck right in the altar, the holiest of places.”

Patriarch Kirill has been a fervent supporter of Vladimir Putin’s invasion. In its report on Sunday’s attack, the Russian Orthodox refers only to an anonymous “missile strike”.

UPDATE 0723 GMT:

Russia State news agency RIA Novosti says a third drone fell in the Moscow region early Monday.

The outlet said a “helicopter-type drone without an explosive device” fell on the central cemetery in the Zelenogradsky district. No one was injured.

UPDATE 0709 GMT:

A Ukrainian drone attack hit an ammunition depot in Russian-occupied Crimea early Monday.

Sergey Aksyonov, the Russian proxy governor of Crimea, said the strike was on the Russian military base in Dzhankoi. He claimed air defense forces intercepted or suppressed 11 drones.

The Russian Defense Ministry declared that all 17 drones were downed, 14 by electronic suppression and three by air defense systems.

Ukraine also struck an ammunition depot, oil installation, and railway station on the peninsula last week.

Ukraine Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov posted on Telegram on Monday morning:

Drones attacked [Moscow] and Crimea last night. Electronic warfare and air defense systems are less able to protect the skies of the occupiers. Whatever happens there, there will be more of this.

UPDATE 0640 GMT:

Drones struck two non-residential buildings in central Moscow about 4 a.m., says Mayor Sergey Sobyanin.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the two drones were “suppressed” by electronic warfare and crashed. There were no casualties.

Debris from one drone struck a building on Komsomolsky Avenue about 2 km (1.2 miles) from the Ministry complex in Moscow’s administrative district. The other hit the 17th and 18th floors of a business center on Likhacheva Street along a main ring road.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Russia has launched airstrikes on the port city of Odesa in southern Ukraine for the sixth night in seven days.

Monday’s drone attacks destroyed another grain terminal, as Russia tries to cripple Ukraine’s exports — adding to global food insecurity for almost 50 million people — a week after Vladimir Putin ripped up the July 2022 deal lifting Moscow’s blockade of three Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea.

Four port employees were injured. “Emergency local power outages” are reported.

On Sunday, a Russian missile directly hit the altar area of the heavily damaged the Transfiguration Cathedral in the historic center of Odesa. Part of the roof, the central piles, and the foundation were destroyed. All the windows were blown out.

The city administration said, “Orthodox shrines suffered: the Kasperovskaya icon of the Mother of God, which is the patroness of Odesa, was pulled out from under the rubble.”

Defying the assault, worshippers gathered outside the Cathedral later on Sunday. Wiping away tears, a priest delivered his incantation over loudspeakers, “Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy.” Nearby, debris was loaded onto trucks and drills repaired buildings.

The Cathedral, founded in 1795, is the largest Orthodox church in Odesa. It was closed by the Soviets and destroyed in 1936, but was restored in the early 2000s in Cathedral Square in the historic city center. Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill — now a vocal supporter of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine — consecrated the building in 2010.

The Cathedral is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was hit a day after UNESCO condemned the Russian strikes on the historic city center, citing “damage to several museums inside the world heritage property, including the Odesa Archaeological Museum, the Odesa Maritime Museum, and the Odesa Literature Museum”.

“This is Barbarism”

Walking through the damaged nave, the Cathedral’s Chief Priest Myroslav Vdodovych said, “This is barbarism, it’s terrorism. The people who did this are not people at all.”

“I was one of the first people here, because I got notified when the alarm signals went off. It was a direct hit, right in the altar area,” he said.

Trying to find positives amid the ruins, Vdodovych said the cathedral taking the hit had prevented the missile from slamming into neighbouring buildings, which had suffered some damage but saw no casualties. “In this way, we can say the cathedral saved lives.”

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy responded:

Missiles against peaceful cities, against residential buildings, a cathedral… There can be no excuse for Russian evil.

As always, this evil will lose. And there will definitely be a retaliation to Russian terrorists for Odesa.