Restoration Begins on Kyiv Cathedral Damaged by Russian Strike
Restoration work was underway Wednesday on Kyiv’s UNESCO-listed 11th-century Saint Sophia Cathedral, one of the main symbols of Ukraine, after it was lightly damaged by Russian strikes on the capital a day earlier.
The white-walled Orthodox cathedral, with its green cupolas, was built during the period of Kievan Rus.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday it had been hit during another large-scale attack on the city.
“Even St. Sophia Cathedral in the capital was damaged, part of the cathedral’s facade collapsed due to the blast wave,” Zelensky said. “For all people who truly know history and who are no strangers to Christianity, any threat of damage or destruction to St. Sophia is absolutely unacceptable, catastrophic,” he said.
Culture Minister Mykola Tochytskyi had called the cathedral the “soul of Ukraine” and said that: “Russia is raging war not only against our cities, it is waging a war against our culture, memory and future.”
An AFP reporter at the cathedral said the damage was visible on the main building of the church, with part of a stucco falling off as a result of the blast wave.
The deputy director of the national reserve “Sophia of Kyiv” that looks after the cathedral, Vadym Kyrylenko, said it was the first time the shrine was directly hit since the Second World War.
“Over the past three years of war, we have found the remains of Shaheds (drones) on our premises, but the last direct hit we had was during World War II,” he told AFP.
He said a shock wave from the attack damaged a cornice of the cathedral and that specialists are drawing up restoration recommendations.
Kyrylenko said the cathedral was a “pearl” that represented the beginnings of the modern state of Ukraine.
“This is where it all began… This is the heart of our state,” he said.
An 18-year-old art student, Valria, who was drawing the cathedral on the grass nearby said she was saddened the building had been hit.
“I was very upset, knowing that this the place where I paint,” she told AFP.
“I believe that the damage to some monuments shows how inhumane this war is.”
Source: AFP