Number of Ukrainian cultural sites damaged by Russia has risen to 3,288

On 4 November, Ukraine's Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications issued updated figures regarding the monuments and cultural infrastructure damaged or destroyed by Russia.

Source: Ukraine's Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications 

Details: According to the regional military administrations and the Kyiv City Military Administration, 10 sites were damaged in October. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, the Russians have damaged or destroyed 1,179 cultural heritage sites and 2,109 cultural infrastructure locations.

According to the Culture Ministry, the affected sites include 120 that are of national importance, 990 of local importance, and 69 newly discovered sites.

Some sites in Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Kherson and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts have been damaged more than once. Further damage has been reported in Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.

Cultural monuments have been damaged or destroyed in 18 oblasts and the city of Kyiv, the ministry said.

The report also emphasises that the count is not final because virtually the whole of Luhansk Oblast and substantial areas of Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Kherson oblasts are still under temporary occupation.

Russian troops are also said to have damaged 368 cultural infrastructure sites (such as cultural venues, libraries, museums, art galleries, theatres, concert halls, parks and zoos).

Sites in Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia and Luhansk oblasts have sustained the most damage.

On 28 October, Russian troops used aerial bombs to attack the centre of Kharkiv. One of them struck the House of State Industry (Derzhprom), a modernist architectural landmark of national significance.

On 4 November, Kharkiv City Council representatives held an online meeting with the head of UNESCO in Ukraine, Chiara Dezzi Bardeschi. They discussed redoubling efforts to put not only the Derzhprom building but the entire architectural ensemble in Freedom Square on the UNESCO World Heritage List. "The organisation is ready to help the city with a fast-tracked procedure for adding the site to the World Heritage List," said Yuliia Zhurska, Deputy Head of the Department of International Cooperation.

Derzhprom is currently on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List.

UNESCO has confirmed that as of 16 October 2024, 457 Ukrainian cultural heritage sites have been damaged since 24 February 2022, including 143 religious sites, 231 buildings of historical and/or artistic interest, 32 museums, 33 monuments, 17 libraries, and an archive.

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