UNESCO warns Russia that strikes on Ukraine World Heritage Sites may breach international law News
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UNESCO warns Russia that strikes on Ukraine World Heritage Sites may breach international law

UNESCO released a statement Sunday condemning Russian strikes on Odesa, Ukraine, which allegedly damaged several World Heritage Sites, including the first Orthodox Christian church built in Odesa, the Transfiguration Cathedral. Ukraine is home to eight locations on the World Heritage List.

UNESCO’s Director-General Audrey Azoulay stated:

This outrageous destruction marks an escalation of violence against cultural heritage of Ukraine. I strongly condemn this attack against culture, and I urge the Russian Federation to take meaningful action to comply with its obligations under international law, including the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and the 1972 World Heritage Convention.

Russia has denied responsibility for the damage to the Transfiguration Cathedral, with Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying, “Our armed forces never strike social infrastructure facilities, let alone temples, churches and other such structures, so we do not accept such accusations. They are absolute lies.” Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova blamed Ukrainian military forces for the damage: “[T]he damage to the Transfiguration Cathedral is also on the conscience of the Kiev regime and incompetent operators of air defense systems, which are deliberately deployed by the Ukrainian army in residential quarters, and the d[e]fense ministry has already confirmed this.” Zakharova went on to claim “the UNESCO secretariat hold a biased position on the situation in Ukraine.”

Tensions between UNESCO and Russia have been ramping up since Russian forces invaded Ukraine in 2022. UNESCO classified Odesa as “a World Heritage in Danger site” in January, raising concerns over potential damage due to the war. Russia attempted to delay the vote on this classification several times. Shortly after the vote, tensions came to a head once again with Russia alleging that UNESCO facilitated the removal of religious relics from Ukraine. EUvsDisinfo, an organization sponsored by the Diplomatic Service of the European Union, disputed the claims, calling them “disinformation.” In 2022, UNESCO released a report alleging that 207 important Ukrainian cultural sites have been damaged by the war.

The intentional destruction of “cultural heritage” is a war crime under the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and the 1972 World Heritage Convention. UNESCO states “Cultural heritage includes artefacts, monuments, a group of buildings and sites, museums that have a diversity of values including symbolic, historic, artistic, aesthetic, ethnological or anthropological, scientific and social significance.” Cultural heritage and heritage sites have been targeted during conflicts throughout history, from the theft of art and destruction of synagogues by Nazi Germany to the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha statues by the Taliban in 2001. The European Parliament has alleged that Russia’s destruction of Ukrainian cultural heritage sites is deliberate, with the Ukrainian Culture Minister corroborating the allegations.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, with death tolls continuing to soar for both Ukraine and Russia as the war continues.

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