Russia Squeezes Blood From Stone in Ukraine

In one year of war, the Russian onslaught in Ukraine destroyed an estimated $50 billion in housing and much more than that in roads, factories and commercial property. But there may be no measure for the cost of another category of physical damage. A shudder went through the soul of Ukraine last Thursday after a missile hit Lviv — a storehouse of the country’s history — killing 10 people and destroying a nearly 100-year-old apartment building on the cusp of a zone designated for cultural protection by Unesco. What if the attack had gone just a bit further?

Among the treasures that would have been in peril: the rococo Cathedral of St. George — a seat of Ukraine’s Orthodox church as well as a symbol of anti-Soviet patriotism; the Korniakt palace, which was built in the style of an Italian palazzo in the late 16th century; and Rynok Square, where about 40 buildings, some dating from the Renaissance, bear witness to the country’s convoluted political and mercantile past. There are more than 2,000 historical landmarks in the 300 acres of Lviv’s old city center.