MOSCOW, July 23. /TASS/. The most probable cause of the destruction of the Transfiguration Cathedral in Odessa was the fall of a Ukrainian missile due to unprofessional actions of the air defense, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"Judging by the video footage of the Transfiguration Cathedral published by local residents, the most probable cause of its destruction was the fall of a Ukrainian anti-aircraft guided missile as a result of incompetent actions of the operators of air defense systems, which the Ukrainian forces deliberately placed in residential areas, including in the city of Odessa," the Defense Ministry said.

The Defense Ministry specified that Kiev's information about the destruction of the Transfiguration Cathedral in Odessa as a result of a high-precision strike does not correspond to reality. According to the ministry, "the planning of strikes with high-precision weapons against military and terrorist infrastructure facilities of the Kiev regime is carried out on the basis of thoroughly checked and confirmed through several information channels, knowingly excluding the destruction of civilian facilities where there are civilians, as well as objects of cultural and historical heritage."

Russian troops have been carrying out retaliatory strikes for several days in response to Kiev's attack on the Crimean Bridge.