As of June 24, 2022, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine recorded 396 cases of russian war crimes against Ukrainian cultural heritage.
“russians on our land are destroying everything that Ukrainians have been creating for centuries. Enemies are killing our children, adults, old-aged people – both military and civilian. Criminals are trying to wipe out the identity and culture of an entire nation. I want to emphasize that this nation is European by origin. Now Ukrainian people have legally become closer to the EU. We continue to record the crimes of russians and draw the attention of the world community to this, in order this country to be punished and excluded from participation in the cultural and information life of the civilized world,” said Oleksandr Tkachenko, Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.
Unfortunately, the trend of cultural heritage damage has not changed. Most crimes were recorded in Kharkiv region. There are 97 cases in the region, 80 of them are in the city of Kharkiv and its environs. In Donetsk region 92 crimes have been documented, 61 of them are in the city of Mariupol. 70 cases were recorded in Kyiv region. The largest number of them, 44 cases, are in Bucha district. Also 38 cases – in Chernihiv region, 32 – in Luhansk region, 28 – in Sumy region. In Zaporizhia region 13 cases have been documented, in Zhytomyr region – 6, in the city of Kyiv and Kherson region – 5 cases, in Mykolaiv region – 4, in Dnipropetrovsk region – 3, in Odesa region – 2, in Lviv region – 1.
It is currently known about the complete destruction of 9 cultural heritage sites in Donetsk, Kyiv, Sumy and Chernihiv regions, and the state of another 25 damaged objects remains unknown. All damaged objects have different degrees of damage: 58 were severely damaged, 123 were moderately damaged, and 173 were slightly damaged.
So far, russians have damaged 123 cultural heritage sites in Ukraine. The constant shelling, rocket strikes and bombings have destroyed 21 sites of national importance, 95 are of local importance and 7 – newly discovered cultural heritage sites.
In total 100 objects of valuable historical buildings were damaged, but religious buildings were the most affected. The occupiers destroyed or damaged 144 religious buildings. 51 of them are registered as historical, architectural and urban planning sites or as valuable historical buildings.
The enemy destroyed 43 memorials in Ukraine in honor of historical figures and events of the XIX – early XXI centuries, 31 buildings and complexes of museums and reserves, 79 constructions of houses of culture, theaters and libraries, as well as some other valuable historical buildings.
“Every loss of Ukrainian cultural heritage is a loss for world culture and history. russian barbarians must be held accountable for every war crime in our country,” said Kateryna Chuyeva, Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.
It should be reminded that the destruction of cultural heritage sites is a war crime under the 1954 Hague Convention. The MCIP continues to record russian crimes against Ukrainian cultural heritage on the national platform https://culturecrimes.mkip.gov.ua/. It is very difficult to obtain information from the temporarily occupied territories and zones of active hostilities. We also urge you to join this process, while remembering your personal safety.
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