“Tomorrow is one month since a most horrible bombing of Odesa, and those of us who are here, we still can’t come back to our senses. Because they were intentionally aiming at the center of the city, which is under UNESCO protection – the House of Scientists, Archaeological Museum, Kotsebu bridge, Gogol’s House – this is old Odesa, this may not be touched. The House of Scientists, it was constructed by famous architects Boffo and Torricelli, who also designed our famous Potemkin Stairs. During WWII Odesa was under Romanian occupation, and the Romanians didn’t touch it. There was gorgeous stained glass there, this was an architectural monument, the Romanians preserved it, but our closest “good neighbors” did not. I got a picture where there is a piece of roof from this house sitting on the pianoforte that Liszt played on. The heart of Odesa is… destroyed.

My daughter and her husband, together with the whole of the city was there, trying to save whatever can be saved. Here [on the picture] is what remains of the House of Scientists. Already in the morning they were there to clear the debris. Terrible. This was the most terrible strike that destroyed the House of Scientists and the Archeological Museum – the night of July, 23 [2023]. Those who stayed in Odesa, they restore it, they gather in the evenings, they pick up construction waste…” (UJRI_094_AS)