Goa, June 11 -- A Russian overnight strike has damaged the historic Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, one of Ukraine's most treasured landmarks and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Ukraine's Culture Ministry confirmed on Tuesday.

"Mykola Tochytskyi, Ukraine's Culture Minister, condemned the strike as an attack on national identity. 'The enemy struck at the very heart of our identity again,' he wrote on Facebook, calling the 11th-century cathedral 'the soul of all Ukraine.'"

The explosion's shockwave reportedly damaged the cornice of the cathedral's main apse, causing chunks of white plaster to crumble to the ground. Video footage from the site revealed visible structural cracks.

Vadym Kyrylenko, first deputy director general of the Saint So...