Russian army hits eighteenth-century Cathedral in Kherson

A Russian attack from the left bank of the Dnipro River damaged the historic St. Catherine’s Cathedral in Kherson on 20 December, church representatives report.

The strike occurred around 5:00 am, with shells hitting the cathedral’s drum lantern beneath the dome.

“The facade and interior of the church suffered significant damage,” church officials reported.

This is not the first time the church has suffered the Russian attack. In August 2023, artillery fire set the cathedral’s roof ablaze, while injuring three trolleybus passengers nearby. A subsequent strike injured four emergency service workers who responded to the scene.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that since the full-scale invasion began, Russia destroyed approximately 700 churches and killed about 50 priests.

St. Catherine’s Cathedral, built in 1786, holds significant historical importance as Kherson’s first stone temple. The classical-style building houses the crypt of Kherson’s founder, Prince Grigory Potemkin-Tavrichesky, near its iconostasis.

The cathedral experienced closure during the 1930s and again in 1962, with services resuming briefly during the Nazi occupation. Following Ukraine’s independence in 1991, the cathedral returned to Orthodox worship.

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