Russia has caused US$3.5 billion worth of damage to Ukrainian cultural heritage, says UNESCO

Over nearly two full years of the full-scale war, Russia has caused US$3.5 billion worth of damage to Ukraine’s cultural heritage. The damage inflicted by Russia in 2023 has increased by 40% compared to the previous year, affecting 341 cultural sites compared to 248 sites in 2022, according to UNESCO estimates.

Source: Chiara Dezzi Bardeschi, Head of the UNESCO Desk in Ukraine, and Krista Pikkat, UNESCO Director of Culture and Emergencies, at a briefing

Sites in Kyiv, Lviv and Odesa have suffered damage. Additionally, many cultural landmarks in eastern Ukraine and frontline areas have been affected by shelling and direct actions by Russian forces.

Pikkat said UNESCO is currently examining the damage that Russia's actions have caused to 341 cultural sites in Ukraine. However, she acknowledged that the actual number of war-damaged monuments may be significantly higher.

She said that at the time of Russia's invasion, Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture and Information Policy and UNESCO lacked databases containing information on all the cultural sites in the country. This has highlighted gaps in the preservation of cultural heritage and necessitated a reevaluation of the methods used to document and preserve information about cultural sites.

The condition of monuments is currently being assessed using satellite images, and cross-checks are conducted against reliable UNESCO sources.

Over the two years of war, the cultural sector and tourism have incurred losses of approximately US$19.5 billion. Kyiv alone accounts for US$10 billion of this revenue.

"The losses continue to grow, as do the needs for the recovery of Ukraine's cultural sector," Pikkat explained.

It will take about 10 years and US$9 billion to rebuild all the cultural and historical sites in Ukraine after the full-scale invasion.

"We are concerned about what is happening in Ukraine right now, so taking action to support creative industries and international solidarity is crucial," Dezzi Bardeschi added.

UNESCO has mobilised approximately US$66 million over the past two years to support culture, education and journalism in Ukraine, the representatives noted.

UNESCO's work in Ukraine

In November 2023, Ukraine became a UNESCO World Heritage Committee member, opening up new opportunities for implementing the World Heritage Convention. This includes making decisions on how the World Heritage Fund is used and listing sites on the World Heritage List and the List of World Heritage in Danger.

Ukraine ratified the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage in 1988. In the autumn of 2023, UNESCO added 20 cultural heritage sites in Ukraine to the List of Cultural Property under Enhanced Protection. Most were already on the UNESCO World Heritage List, apart from those in temporarily occupied territories.

UNESCO periodically conducts missions in Ukraine. In Chernihiv, Ukrainian and international experts have been assessing the damage caused to cultural heritage sites by Russian missile attacks during the Russian army's advance on the city and the occupation of parts of Chernihiv Oblast.

As of August 2023, the most significant damage to UNESCO cultural sites has been documented in Donetsk (78 sites), Kharkiv (55), Kyiv (38), Luhansk (33) and Chernihiv oblasts (17). There are also damaged sites in Zaporizhzhia and Sumy (12 sites each), Odesa and Mykolaiv (8 each), Kherson (6), Zhytomyr (3), Vinnytsia (2), and Dnipropetrovsk and Lviv oblasts (1 each).

UNESCO, an international organisation which is part of the United Nations, contributes to strengthening peace and security by developing and supporting education, science, culture and journalism.

UNESCO has 194 member states, with its headquarters in Paris and offices in 54 countries worldwide. Its Director-General is Audrey Azoulay.

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