UNESCO confirms the destruction of 207 cultural sites in Ukraine by Russians
This is reported by DW, citing AlJazeera.
It is noted that among the destroyed cultural objects are 88 religious sites, 15 museums, 76 buildings of historical and/or artistic interest, 18 monuments and 10 libraries.
"We have come to the conclusion that the situation is bad. It could get even worse in the future," Krista Pikkat, UNESCO's Culture and Emergencies (CEM) Entity Director, said at a press conference in Geneva.
She added that currently, during the war, none of the seven World Heritage sites located on the territory of Ukraine was damaged.
UNESCO draws its conclusions based on data from the UN satellite center UNOSAT.
"Based on field reports, UNESCO is sending a list of potentially damaged sites to UNOSAT. It then requests satellite images from commercial vendors, and a small team of experts examines the difference between before and after photos. The team maps the images and can then specify the time window in which the damage occurred," explained Krista Pikkat.
She added that UNESCO discussed with Kyiv the possibility of exporting cultural heritage sites from the country during the war.
Earlier, the minister of culture and information policy of Ukraine, Oleksandr Tkachenko, said that he was forced to ask for help from UNESCO to help preserve Museum props and exhibits in Ukraine.
