Ukraine will need almost nine billion US dollars over the next decade to rebuild its cultural sites and tourism industry after the Russian invasion and war, UNESCO has announced, the Associated Press reported, cited by BTA.
According to UNESCO estimates, the country’s related cultural and tourism sectors have lost more than US$19 billion in revenue since the war began two years ago. The UN agency said the fighting damaged 341 cultural sites across Ukraine and caused $3.5 billion in damage, including in the capital Kyiv and the cities of Lviv in the west and Odesa in the south.
“Odessa Cathedral is an example of such a site that has been seriously damaged,” said Chiara Deci Bardeschi, who heads UNESCO’s office in Ukraine. “It is a symbol of the whole community…with deep spiritual and historical significance”.
In July 2023, UNESCO strongly condemned the “brazen attack by Russian forces” on historic buildings in the center of Odessa, designated last year by the UN agency as an endangered world heritage site. The attack killed at least two people and damaged several sites, including the late 18th-century Savior and Transfiguration Cathedral, which is the city’s main Orthodox church.
Its original construction was destroyed in 1936, the temple was rebuilt in 1999-2003.
UNESCO said the deliberate destruction of cultural heritage sites, including religious buildings and artefacts, could be considered a war crime.
The International Criminal Court brought charges of war crimes, including targeted attacks on historic religious monuments and buildings, in a case involving Mali in 2015.
In Ukraine, 1,711 objects of cultural infrastructure were damaged or destroyed as a result of Russian aggression, Ukrinform reported in November 2023.
The cultural infrastructure suffered the greatest losses and damages in Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Luhansk, Zaporozhye regions and the city of Kyiv, reports the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.
The largest group of cultural objects that suffered damage or were destroyed were club facilities, which made up 49% of the total number of cultural infrastructure objects that suffered damage.
A total of 844 clubs, 603 libraries, 133 art schools, 100 museums and galleries, 31 theater buildings, cinemas and philharmonic halls were damaged or destroyed.
Objects of cultural infrastructure are affected in 262 territorial communities (17.8% of the total number of territorial communities), in particular in the regions of Donetsk (83%), Sumy (53%), Kharkiv (52%), Chernihiv (46% ), Kherson (43%), Luhansk (42%), Mykolaiv (42%), Zaporizhia (36%), Kyiv (26%), Dnipropetrovsk (19%), Zhytomyr (12%), Odessa (8%), Khmelnytskyi (8%), Cherkasy (5%), Lviv (4%), Vinnytsia (3%), Zakarpattia (2%), Poltava (2%) and in the capital Kyiv itself.
The Ministry notes that as of the end of October 2023, almost the entire territory of Luhansk Oblast and significant parts of the territories of Kherson, Zaporozhye, and Donetsk Oblasts remain temporarily occupied by the Russians. This makes it impossible to calculate the exact number of cultural infrastructure objects affected.
Illustrative Photo: Old Odessa, postcard
