UNESCO condemns ‘brazen’ Russia strike on Ukraine’s Odesa

Volunteers take away particles whereas an Orthodox priest prays contained in the Transfiguration Cathedral broken throughout a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s assault on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine July 23, 2023. REUTERS/ Nina Liashonok

ODESA — UNESCO on Sunday condemned Russia’s “brazen” assault on Ukraine’s Odesa, which hit a number of websites within the port metropolis’s World Heritage middle.

“UNESCO is deeply dismayed and condemns in the strongest terms the brazen attack carried out by the Russian forces, which hit several cultural sites in the city centre of Odesa, home to the World Heritage property ‘The Historic Centre of Odesa'”, the Paris-based physique stated in a press release.

The strike, Russia’s newest assault on the Black Sea metropolis and one in every of Ukraine’s most vital ports following Moscow’s pulling out of a grain deal that allowed Kyiv to export its grain, killed not less than two folks.

UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay stated it marked “an escalation of violence against [the] cultural heritage of Ukraine.”

The strike notably broken the Transfiguration Cathedral, initially in-built 1794 beneath imperial Russian rule, demolished beneath Soviet chief Stalin in 1936 and rebuilt within the Nineties following the Soviet Union collapse. — Agence France-Presse