Survival of a cathedral...

... which was struck by a Russian missile in the early hours of this morning. It happens to be about 600 metres from our apartment and the explosion shook the whole structure of our building.

We see it is called the Holy Transfiguration Cathedral in media reports. But we know it as Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral - a strange name for us, although the name of our street is Preobrazhens'ka. This is how I prefer to remember the inside, in a photo taken by my son, Sam, on his visit here, just a few weeks ago 

This is what it looks like now...

It was all hands to the deck, both inside and outside, when the damage became clear this morning - both professionals and volunteers, somehow working together to get things done, even there didn't seem to be anyone organising things.

Bob went into the cathedral with gloves and a hard hat, and helped other male volunteers to clear the rubble. Women were not allowed to help with this work for some strange reason (although they were allowed to sweep up afterwards!) Bob said it was amazing how everyone seemed to know what needed to be done, and also how quickly the clean-up was completed.

A perfect chain line..

I joined women, mostly, picking up endless shards and fragments of glass from the grass in the large square. As I worked alongside ordinary people, some spoke to me, as always. Those that spoke good English had very different views. A woman in her seventies, who said her English name was 'Jenny' (Yevgenia, more than likely), was absolutely distraught, unable to believe what had happened. She said that she has visited this church since her childhood; she kept repeating, "This is my life!"

I also spoke to a man in his forties, who was there with his wife (an English teacher) and her children. We shared the brush that I brought from home. He had a much more pragmatic view - he said that this is not an old church with any great symbolic value. Although it was founded in 1794, it was demolished by the Soviets in the 1930s and rebuilt from 1999. He said that, although part of the cathedral will need to be pulled down because it's structurally unsafe, it can be rebuilt. He said, people will move on from this in 3 days.

I don't think everyone will agree with him.

It was amazing though, how quickly the debris was cleared and, towards the end of the day, boards were being nailed onto window spaces.

The women were allowed back in to, guess what...?

As well as damaging the cathedral, this latest wave of Russian strikes on Odesa have killed one person and  injured 22 people, including a number of children. Six residential buildings have been damaged or destroyed, people being pulled out of the rubble of their homes.

We can only hope for a quieter night.