Russian forces on the evening of February 7 at around 23:10 carried out a massive shelling of Kherson; the Holy Spirit Cathedral was hit.
This was reported on the Kherson Eparchy’s ministry page.
According to preliminary data, one of the shells hit the roof of the church, another fell on the cathedral’s grounds.
As a result of the shelling, the chapel in honor of the Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Life-Giving Spring” was damaged, as well as the bell tower, and windows were blown out in the premises of the Kherson Eparchy administration and in the utility buildings.
There is no information about deaths or injuries.
The Russian army has not hit the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Kherson for the first time; on January 7 one of the shells pierced the main dome of the cathedral, and another exploded nearby in the courtyard.
The Holy Spirit Cathedral is an Orthodox historical and architectural church in Kherson, a monument of early 19th-century architecture. The church’s design was developed in 1810 by provincial architect Ivan Yaroslavskyi in the style of austere classicism.
Construction continued until 1836 due to lack of funds. In 1910 the church was expanded, and in 1962 it was granted cathedral status.
Recall, Kherson Oblast is among the top three regions of Ukraine with the largest losses of cultural heritage since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion. According to official data, 297 cultural heritage sites have been recorded as destroyed in the region.