In Odesa, Russians have damaged 245 monuments in four years

Over the four years of full-scale war, the Russian army has hit 245 cultural heritage sites in Odesa, 127 of which are ordinary residential buildings.

This was reported by the head of the Odesa City Military Administration, Serhiy Lysak.

According to him, most of these buildings were damaged by blast waves. However, there are facilities that have suffered large-scale destruction due to direct hits.

"Despite all the difficulties, we have significant results. As of February 2026, the Transfiguration Cathedral and the Bristol Hotel, which had previously suffered significant damage from Russian missiles, have been almost completely restored. Repair and restoration work on the damaged residential monuments also continues unabated," said Lysak.

On the night of July 23, 2023, the largest church in Odesa, the Transfiguration Cathedral, which is a UNESCO monument, was partially damaged by a Russian missile in the historic center of the city. The ceiling was damaged, the altar area was destroyed, and two floors were pierced down. The building itself is a historical monument of local significance; Prince and Princess Vorontsov are buried in the cathedral. The church is a replica of a nineteenth-century cathedral that was destroyed by the Soviet government in 1936. The replica was consecrated by Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev) of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2010. This is the main cathedral of the Odesa Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, whose rector, Metropolitan Agafangel, met with Putin in 2013 and received a certificate of honor from him.

The Bristol Hotel was damaged on January 31, 2025, when Russians attacked the center of Odesa with missiles. The attack caused significant damage to the city's historical monuments. The blast wave smashed windows and damaged the facades of several museums, including the Literary, Historical and Local Lore, Archaeological, and Western and Eastern Art Museums. The building of the Odesa Philharmonic was also damaged.

Кирило Бойко