Russian missile attack on Odesa kills one, wounded 19, including children, damages cathedral

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It's another bloody Sunday for worshippers at the Odesa cathedral after a Russian missile struck the church building and damaged it heavily. My question is, why are the Russian military attacking civilian populated areas in Ukraine? Does this attack on the Odesa cathedral amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity? Good evening!

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A Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian port city of Odesa has killed at least one person, wounded 19 and badly damaged an Orthodox cathedral, according to officials.

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Oleg Kiper, the governor of Odesa, said on the Telegram messaging app that those wounded in Sunday’s air attack included several children.

Among the 19 wounded people from the attack were 14 people were hospitalized and amongst them were 3 children. My major challenge is that the missile attack was on a church building. This is a breach of international humanitarian laws and equally amounts to war crimes. Also, members of the international community should bring to book the perpetrators of this atrocities.

The assault also destroyed six houses and apartment buildings, he added.

Russia has been pounding Odesa and other Ukrainian food export facilities nearly daily over the past week after it withdrew from a United Nations-brokered sea corridor agreement that allowed for the safe shipment of Ukrainian grain.

The UOC is Ukraine’s second-largest church, though most Ukrainian Orthodox believers belong to a separate branch of the faith formed four years ago by uniting branches independent of Russian authority.

Ukraine has accused the UOC of maintaining links to the pro-invasion Russian Orthodox Church, which used to be its parent church but with which the UOC says it broke ties in May last year.

Apart from the fact that the Russian military are constantly attacking civilian populated cities, they're also intentionally killing innocent citizens of Ukraine. This attack will also create fear in the hearts of worshippers of the Ukraine Orthodox Church who go on a daily basis to worship their Maker.

It's awful to see that civilians are being targeted when there are enough battlefields for soldiers of the warring states to combat. It's pertinent that the Russian military stop attacking civilian populated areas as enshrined in the international humanitarian laws.

"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. They will feel this retaliation," he said on Twitter.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni issued a statement condemning the attack and offering assistance in the reconstruction of the cathedral.

"The Russian aggressors demolish grain stores, depriving millions of hungry people of food. They devastate our European civilisation, its sacred symbols," she said.

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