Ukraine's Culture Ministry releases updated statistics on cultural monuments damaged by Russia

Ukraine's Ministry of Culture and Information Policy (MCIP) released updated statistics on Tuesday (9 January) on Ukrainian cultural monuments that have been damaged or destroyed since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.

Between 24 February 2022 and 25 December 2023, a total of 872 cultural heritage sites were destroyed or damaged in 17 oblasts of Ukraine, the MCIP reported.

The government body specified that these included 120 monuments of national significance, 682 of local significance, and 70 newly discovered ones.

Among the damaged and destroyed sites, 279 are architectural monuments; 255 architecture and urban planning objects; 203 historic sites, 33 architecture and history monuments; 19 monumental art objects; 17 urban planning and monumental art objects; 18 archaeological sites; 38 architecture and urban planning objects; 38 historic artifacts; 5 urban planning objects, 2 science and technology objects, 1 unit of landscape art, 1 architecture and urban planning or monumental art object, and 1 architecture or monumental art object.

The ministry says the monuments have been damaged or destroyed by the Russians in 17 oblasts:

In Kharkiv Oblast – 216 (including 10 of national importance)

In Odesa Oblast – 119 (including 28 of national importance)

In Donetsk Oblast – 111 (including 12 of national importance)

In Kherson Oblast – 86 (including 12 of national importance)

In Chernihiv Oblast – 70 (including 27 of national importance)

In Kyiv Oblast – 69 (including 16 monuments of national importance)

In Zaporizhzhia Oblast – 38

In Lviv Oblast – 33 (including 2 of national importance)

In Dnipropetrovsk Oblast – 32 (including 1 of national importance)

In Luhansk Oblast – 30

In Sumy Oblast – 25 (including 5 of national importance)

In Mykolaiv Oblast – 22 (including 3 of national importance)

In Khmelnytskyi Oblast – 10 (including 1 of national importance)

In Vinnytsia Oblast – 4 (including 1 of national importance)

In Poltava Oblast – 4 (including 1 of national importance)

In Zhytomyr Oblast – 2 (including 1 of national importance)

In Kirovohrad Oblast – 1

The MCIP is constantly updating data on damage or destruction of cultural heritage sites caused by the full-scale war that Russia has unleashed.

Earlier, Kateryna Chuieva, former Deputy Culture Minister, noted that the exact figures of damaged sites would be available only after the war is over: "We will see the full picture only after the war ends and only after most of the war zones are cleared of mines and become directly accessible to researchers. To date, we can examine and fully document mainly those sites located in the liberated territories and relatively far from the line of fire."

UNESCO also keeps its own statistics on damaged cultural sites in Ukraine. In early August last year, it released a list confirming the damage to 274 cultural sites since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.

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