Rising resentment in Odesa, Ukraine’s port city, following Russian attacks on cherished historical landmarks

Tetiana Khlapova’s hand shook as she captured on her cellphone the destruction of Odesa’s revered Transfiguration Cathedral, furiously condemning Russia, the country of her birth.

Khlapova, brought up in Ukraine, had always envisioned a life in the coastal city, not as a war refugee she currently is.

Within a week, Russia launched multiple missile and drone strikes on the Odesa region. However, none pierced as deeply as the one that annihilated the cathedral, an emblem of the city’s rich, tumultuous history, deeply rooted in both Ukrainian and Russian cultures.

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“As a refugee from Kharkiv, I fled the chaos to the sunny, charming Odesa, the jewel, the soul of our Ukraine,” Khlapova said, having spent 40 out of her 50 years in the country.

Still bearing a shrapnel scar from the third day of the war when her apartment was struck, she evacuated to Odesa on Day 4.

At present, she’s embarking on a quick journey back to Kharkiv to fetch winter clothing, planning to ride out the war in Ireland, “as we lack safety in every city.”

“You could be hit out of nowhere, and your entire body would be shattered,” she added. “When the war concludes — and I’m confident that Ukraine will prevail over this filth, these leeches — I will reclaim my home. I will return, regardless of the circumstances.”

Since Ukraine’s independence from Moscow in 1991, Odesa perceived itself distinctively due to its extensive, complex history and a vision that reached far beyond its boundaries.

Odesa’s history intertwines with some of Russia’s most esteemed figures, including Catherine the Great, writer Leo Tolstoy, and poet Anna Akhmatova.

Its ports were pivotal to the international agreement last year, allowing Ukraine and Russia to transport their grain globally. Its Orthodox cathedral is under the jurisdiction of Moscow’s patriarchate. Its residents predominantly speak Russian. And up until the unlawful annexation of the neighboring Crimean Peninsula by the Kremlin in 2014, its beaches were a favorite among Russian tourists.

In the early stages of the war, Kremlin-influenced rumors circulated in the city, insisting Moscow wouldn’t target the historic center, or that the mayor had prepared a ship filled with roses to welcome Russian soldiers, or that a silent majority of citizens were awaiting a Russian “liberation.”

These were unfounded claims.

“Even today, if you follow Russian channels, they’re utterly convinced we’re waiting for them here,” remarked Hanna Shelest, an Odesa-raised political and security researcher whose father serves as a harbormaster.

Throughout the winter, Russia repeatedly attacked Odesa’s regional infrastructure, unlike its port, a critical part of the Black Sea Grain Initiative that ensured safe shipping of agricultural products from both countries to feed the world.

When Russia withdrew from the agreement in mid-July, the region’s fully stocked silos were targeted by missiles and drones the following day, attacking storage facilities, transport networks, and random structures. Although Ukraine’s air defenses deflected most strikes, a few penetrated each day.

Last week marked the first strike on Odesa’s historical city center since the war’s commencement.

Mayor Hennadii Trukhanov delivered an impassioned video message to the Russians after Sunday’s strike on the cathedral, featuring rescue workers delicately extracting a damaged icon from the debris.

“Odesa doesn’t just hate you. It despises you. You’re attacking children, the Orthodox church. Even cemeteries are hit by your rockets,” he stated. “You hardly understand us, the Odessans. You won’t break us, just intensify our rage.”

Further missiles struck the House of Scientists, a mansion formerly owned by the Tolstoy family, now a hub uniting scholars and researchers, and other administrative and residential buildings.

The targets were within close proximity of the port. Shelest speculates that the cathedral was struck unintentionally, but that’s scant consolation in the face of such destruction.

Ever since Catherine the Great elevated Odesa to an international seaport in 1794, the city has prided itself on its maritime roots, cosmopolitan tolerance, and inherent sense of humor. With one of Europe’s largest Jewish populations before a series of pogroms and sizable Greek and Italian sailors’ communities, Odesa’s roots run deep.

The recent week of assaults has shaken those roots for residents like Iryna Grets, who boasts of at least three generations of family in the city.

“Every morning, I go to the sea, to witness the sunrise. But today, I couldn’t muster the strength to visit the sea because we’ve been awake all night. We haven’t slept all week,” Grets shared, who instead decided to visit each site attacked on Sunday.

Beginning with the cathedral, the center of life in Odesa. The original structure was razed during Josef Stalin’s campaign against religion in 1936. With Ukraine’s independence, residents raised funds to restore it. The new structure was consecrated by Patriarch Kirill, leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, in 2010.

Kirill, whose church supports Russian President Vladimir Putin, has consistently defended the war in Ukraine.

“Each rocket landing on Ukrainian soil is perceived by its inhabitants as your ‘blessing’ upon their children,” Archbishop Viktor Bykov of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s Odesa Diocese, addressed Kirill in an open letter.

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Grets’s bitter journey was more about mourning than religion, a sentiment echoed by many who visited the site on Sunday. Some attended a service outside the damaged cathedral while others cleared debris, forsaking the famed beaches despite the inviting summer sunshine.

“This city is part of me, it’s my soul, it’s my heart,” Grets expressed, her anger surfacing as she vehemently stated in Ukrainian: “Odesa will never be part of Russia.”

Report by Hinnant from Paris.

Follow AP’s coverage of the Ukraine war at https://bigbignews.net/russia-ukraine

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Russian attacks in Odesa

More about Russian attacks in Odesa

• Background on Ukraine-Russia conflict
• History of Odesa
• Details on the Transfiguration Cathedral
• Impact of Russian Attacks on Ukraine
• Russia’s Annexation of Crimea
• The role of Odesa port in international grain trade