St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv and Odesa Film Studio damaged by Russian attack

On June 10, a Russian air attack damaged St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv and the Odesa Film Studio in Odesa.

This was announced by Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications Mykola Tochytskyi.

“Last night, the enemy struck again at the heart of our identity. The St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, a shrine that has survived centuries and symbolizes the birth of our statehood, was damaged,” he wrote on social media.

According to the minister, the blast wave caused the destruction of the cornice on the main apse of the national monument.

St. Sophia Cathedral, or St. Sophia of Kyiv, is an 11th-century cathedral in Kyiv. It was originally built in the Byzantine style, but has suffered numerous destructions. In the XVII-XVIII centuries, it was restored, fundamentally changed its appearance and is now an example of Ukrainian Baroque. It is one of the few surviving buildings from the times of Kyivan Rus.

In 2018, St. Sophia Cathedral hosted the Unification Council of Ukrainian Orthodox Churches. The participants of the council established a charter and elected the head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

The Russian air attack also damaged the Odesa Film Studio, “the place where Ukrainian cinema was created.” Pavilions, warehouses, scenery, and vehicles were damaged.

“The scenery for the Dovzhenko film, a national project about the most famous Ukrainian director, was completely destroyed,” Tochytskyi emphasized.

As a reminder, the Russian attack on Kyiv caused damage and destruction in seven districts, with four people injured. Two people were killed in Odesa as a result of the Russian attack.

Volodymyr Pyrig