16 June 2026, 11:06
Among the damaged sites are monuments that comprise the UNESCO World Heritage property: Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, including the Assumption Cathedral and the John Kushchnyk Tower. Additionally, the buildings housing the Treasury of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine and the Museum of Books and Printing of Ukraine sustained damage. Certain collection storage facilities of the National Museum of Folk Architecture and Life of Ukraine in Pirohiv were also affected.
The Mystetskyi Arsenal National Culture, Arts and Museum Complex, the Dovzhenko National Film Studios, and Ukrkinokhronyka — one of Ukraine’s oldest documentary film studios — were also damaged, alongside the Dnipropetrovsk House of Organ and Chamber Music and the Kharkiv Art Museum, which had sustained damage just the day before.
The scale of this tragedy is measured not only by the destruction of the buildings and historical premises themselves, but primarily by the devastating consequences for the museum collections. These collections serve as the repositories of unique historical data, national identity, and our cultural code.
The Committee emphasizes that the repeated damage to cultural heritage sites, museum collections, cultural institutions, and spiritual shrines is a continuation of a systemic policy by the russian federation aimed at destroying the historical memory, cultural heritage, and national identity of the Ukrainian people. It must be fully recognized that this constitutes a continuation of russia’s long-standing imperial and totalitarian practices aimed at suppressing cultural, spiritual, and national uniqueness — methods deployed for centuries not only against Ukraine, but for the systemic and brutal eradication of the cultural identity of all nations subjugated by russia.
The Committee insists that the aggressor state’s targeted destruction of Ukrainian museums, architectural complexes, and religious shrines constitutes a blatant defiance of international law. By destroying cultural heritage, the aggressor willfully violates the 1954 Hague Convention, the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, and other international legal instruments.
The Committee considers it unacceptable that a state systematically inflicting damage upon World Heritage properties and cultural assets continues to enjoy all the rights of a UNESCO member state. This situation demands an immediate, principled response from the international community, utilizing all available mechanisms of leverage.
In this regard, the Committee appeals to the international community, calling on it:
· To step up the activities of international organizations aimed at documenting, recording, and providing a proper international legal evaluation of the russian federation's crimes against Ukraine's cultural heritage;
· To reinforce international mechanisms to hold the russian federation accountable for the systematic destruction of Ukraine's cultural and spiritual heritage sites;
· To fast-track the initiation and review of procedures regarding the suspension of the russian federation’s membership rights in UNESCO, as a state that grossly violates the principles and goals of the Organization.
The Committee emphasizes that without a decisive and timely response from the international community, attacks on cultural heritage sites will continue, and impunity for such actions will set a dangerous precedent and undermine the international system for protecting cultural heritage, increasing threats to the preservation of cultural assets not only in Ukraine but around the world.
Given the systemic nature of the criminal actions aimed not only at individual cultural heritage sites but also at national identity as such, the People’s Deputies of Ukraine—members of the Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy—have registered the draft Law of Ukraine "On Amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine regarding the inclusion of the cultural component in the crime of genocide" (registration No. 15331).
The adoption of this draft law will ensure the implementation of additional, effective legal response mechanisms to the aggressor state's crimes, and will also help expand the toolkit for holding perpetrators accountable under both national and international law.
Separately, the Committee draws attention to the proliferation of numerous manipulative and false reports in the information space regarding the causes and circumstances of the damage to cultural heritage sites. Such reports are actively disseminated by russian media, including both state-controlled outlets and those positioning themselves as independent or opposition-aligned.
The Committee emphasizes that any conclusions regarding the circumstances of the damage to cultural heritage sites must be based exclusively on verified information obtained from authorized government bodies and official institutions.
The dissemination of unverified information and speculation regarding the circumstances of damage to cultural heritage sites promotes disinformation, complicates the establishment of an objective picture of events, and undermines international efforts aimed at the proper recording, assessment, and documentation of the consequences of russian aggression against Ukraine.