Russian army damages 664 sites of Ukrainian cultural heritage – Ministry of Culture and Information Policy

Due to Russian shelling, the museum of Hrihory Skovoroda was destroyed. Photo: Oleh Synehubov, head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration

Alvina Kaminska

Since Russia started its aggression in Ukraine, priceless cultural monuments have been destroyed. Ukraine's national heritage includes many irreplaceable pieces lost due to Russian attacks.

Rubryka writes about this, referring to the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy.

Note that today the Ministry of Culture, which is recording such losses, cannot provide complete information about them.

As Kateryna Chuieva, deputy minister of culture and information policy of Ukraine, said, the number of destroyed heritage continues to grow.

"We will be able to see the full picture after the war's end and only after the majority of the combat zones have been cleared of mines and become directly accessible to researchers. As of today, we can survey and fully document mainly those objects located in the de-occupied territories and relatively far from the line of fire," she emphasized.

The official announced the data of the regional military administrations on the loss of cultural heritage – as of June 25.

Thus, more than 664 objects of cultural heritage were damaged or destroyed. This does not include buildings of cultural infrastructure, such as libraries or other institutions that were housed in modern buildings.

The total figure includes a small number of objects of archaeological heritage, the central part of which is currently poorly accessible for surveys.

"To date, 84 monuments of national significance, 514 monuments of local significance, as well as 66 newly discovered objects of cultural heritage are known to have been damaged or destroyed," the statement reads.

^{Building of Realschule in Izium. Photo: suspilne.media}

Out of 664 damaged objects of cultural heritage:

• architectural monuments – 211 objects;
• architecture and urban planning – 186;
• monuments of history – 179;
• sites of history of monumental art – 18;
• urban planning and monumental art – 17;
• archeology – 16.

"It should also be remembered that one monument can be at the same time, for example, an architectural monument and a historical monument," – the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy emphasizes.

Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian war against Ukraine, according to the Regional Military Administration:

• at least 24 monuments were completely destroyed,
• 523 partially damaged,
• the degree of damage to 115 monuments needs clarification.

Cultural heritage sites were also damaged due to the destruction of the Kakhovka HPP on June 6, 2023. To save these objects, the Cabinet of Ministers [Ukraine's government – ed.] created an Interdepartmental Coordination Center headed by the Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, Oleksandr Tkachenko.

"Ukraine is experiencing challenges of this magnitude for the first time. Parts of the country have become shallow due to drastically low water levels, while others have been flooded. Looters and treasure hunters are already illegally digging up valuable artifacts from those areas.

Furthermore, there's destruction downstream where the flooding actually took place, resulting in harm to cultural heritage sites. The Institute of Archeology at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, local conservationists, and scientists have joined forces to assemble multiple expeditions and go to the damaged areas.

Such works are carried out in cooperation with law enforcement officers and the security sector. International donors also support them," Kateryna Chuieva emphasized.

The deputy minister also emphasized the vital role of cooperation with UNESCO in the context of preserving Ukrainian cultural heritage and holding Russia accountable for its damage and destruction. She called UNESCO "an umbrella organization that coordinates the efforts of various parties and partially assumes the function of monitoring and verifying data on cultural heritage sites."