More than 150 cultural sites have been partially or totally destroyed in nearly four months of war in Ukraine, the United Nations Scientific, Educational and Cultural Organization (Unesco) announced on Thursday.
"According to the verifications carried out by its experts, 152 cultural sites have been partially or totally destroyed due to the fighting, including 70 religious buildings, 30 historic buildings, 18 cultural centers, 15 monuments, 12 museums and 7 libraries"
, indicates Unesco in a press release.
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Three regions have concentrated three-quarters of the damage since February 24, the date of the start of the Russian invasion: those of Donetsk (45 sites affected), Kharkiv (40) and kyiv (26), specifies the UN organization.
"These repeated attacks on Ukrainian cultural sites must stop
," said Audrey Azoulay, the director general of Unesco.
“Cultural heritage, in all its forms, should in no way be targeted,” she continued.
In mid-April, Lazare Eloundou Assomo, the director of the UNESCO World Heritage Center, had already reported about a hundred damaged or destroyed sites, including
“historic monuments, some (dating) from the 11th, 12th century and others to the architecture of the Soviet era”
.
"We also have churches, cathedrals, with unique liturgical objects, theaters, like that of Mariupol, libraries and other archive buildings, monuments built to glorify the history of Ukraine"
, he had listed, describing these destructions as
“dramatic”
.
Signatories to the 1954 Hague Convention, Ukraine and Russia have an obligation to protect cultural heritage in the event of armed conflict, recalled Audrey Azoulay.
However, the seven Ukrainian World Heritage sites have not been damaged to date, according to the UN organization.