UNESCO mission to visit Odesa to evaluate damage to cultural heritage sites after Russian rockets attacks

A UNESCO mission will arrive in Ukraine's southern city of Odesa in the coming days to conduct a preliminary assessment of damage to cultural heritage sites.

The Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine reports this on the Telegram messaging app.

"The Organization emphasized that the deliberate task of striking cultural objects and their destruction and damage can be equated to a war crime. However, Russia still has membership in UNESCO," the statement said.

The ministry expects active actions to preserve and restore cultural heritage and calls for excluding Russia from the organization's member countries.

Background

After withdrawing from the Black Sea grain agreement, Russia has been terrorizing south of Ukraine with nightly rocket attacks for the past few days.

On the night of July 23, Russian troops hit Odesa with at least five types of missiles: Kalibr, Onyx, Kh-22, Iskander-K, and Iskander-M ballistic missiles. Ukraine's air defense forces downed a significant part of the missiles.

At this time, it is known about one dead civilian. According to the local administration, 19 people were injured, including four children. Fourteen people were hospitalized in city hospitals; three of them were children. At the same time, according to the police, 22 people were injured.

The attack destroyed six residential buildings, including apartment buildings. The cathedral was also damaged. Dozens of cars were mutilated. Many buildings have broken windows, damaged roofs, and facades.

In the historical center of Odesa, under the protection of UNESCO, 25 architectural monuments were damaged by the Russian rocket attack.

President Volodymyr Zelensky commented on the missile attack and promised that Russian would receive a "response" that it would "feel."

Odesa: UNESCO strongly condemns repeated attacks against cultural heritage, including World Heritage