The UNESCO announced that the war in Ukraine has damaged at least 53 cultural sites of that country, including 29 temples, 16 buildings of historical value, four museums and numerous monuments.
A spokesman for the UN Organization for Education, Science and Culture (Unesco) specified that this first balance has been verified through satellite images, as well as by the testimonies collected on the ground.
Among the places affected by the Russian invasion that began on February 24 is the Ivankiv museum in Kyiv, Kamayanka Orthodox Churchin Izium, or that of Saint Tikhon in Zadonskyin the Zaporizhia region.
UNESCO called for further locating possible damage to cultural sites in Ukraine.
Most of the damage was recorded in the Kharkiv region, where 17 sites were affected, such as lto Cathedral of the Assumptionthe City Museum or the building of the former People’s Palace.
The spokesman indicated that the damaged sites have been denounced by the Ukrainian authorities and recalled that Russia signed in 1954 the convention on the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict.
The director general of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, warned in an email sent on the 17th to the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, that “any violation” of that convention “will entail the international responsibility of its authors.”