In Kiev, the destruction affected more than a dozen churches, including those of the Holy Trinity, the Resurrection of Christ and the Church of the Nativity, a wooden building built in 1892. Monuments honoring the dead who fought against Nazism in World War II, were also affected. , Makariv and Pidhaine Libraries, Kyiv National Museum “Picture Gallery” and National Palace of Arts.
From the museums of Kherson, Mariupol and Melitopol, the latter in the Zaporizhzhya region, local testimonies of destruction and looting by the invading forces.
In the port city of Odessa, whose historic center was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in January, the organization recorded the attack on the Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, where it destroyed the windows and glass roof, risking the collection of the institution inaugurated in 1899.
However, in recent months, as part of the classification, UNESCO has revealed that emergency measures have been taken to help protect the city, helping to repair the damage suffered by both museums since the outbreak of war.
In the Odessa classification statement, UNESCO reveals that “it has also provided equipment for the digitization of about a thousand works of art and the documents collection of the State Archives” in the region, and has also provided “equipment to protect the buildings, as well as outdoor works of art”.
These measures are part of a global UNESCO action plan in Ukraine worth €16 million for education, science, culture and information.
Last Wednesday, a joint statement by the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteurs on Cultural Rights (Alexandra Xanthaki), Education (Farida Shaheed) and Freedom of Religion and Worship (Nazila Ghanea) accused Russia of “expossing Ukrainian culture”. to clear”. , history and language” in the occupied territories of Ukraine.
The rapporteurs highlight the situation in Donbass and Crimea and denounce “a forced replacement of Ukrainian identity by Russian identity”.
“Literature and history books accused of being ‘extremist’ were taken from public libraries and destroyed by invaders in cities in the occupied territories of Lugansk, Donetsk, Chernihiv and Sumi.”
The three rapporteurs also presented cases of teachers, school principals and officials arrested for refusing to adopt Russian curricula, a situation exacerbated by the recruitment of “hundreds of teachers from Russian territory to work in eastern Ukraine”.
In their statement, the three UN experts guarantee that “writers, artists and workers in the cultural sector have often been killed or seriously injured trying to protect cultural property”.
Source: DN
