UN: Russia’s war damages Ukrainian heritage worth $3.5 billion

Last year, the Paris-based organization estimated losses at nearly $2.6 billion. (document)

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused some $3.5 billion worth of damage to the country’s heritage and cultural sites, a United Nations agency said on Tuesday.

The United Nations educational, scientific and cultural organization UNESCO said revenue losses in the culture, tourism and entertainment industries totaled $19 billion since the Russian invasion in February 2022.

Last year, the Paris-based organization estimated losses at nearly $2.6 billion.

UNESCO, which used satellite imagery to assess the damage, said about 5,000 sites were destroyed, including more than 340 sites such as museums, monuments, libraries and religious sites.

As of April last year, the number was 248 sites.

Two UNESCO World Heritage sites – the medieval center of the western city of Lviv and Odessa in the south – were hit hard by Russian airstrikes.

Chiara Dezzi Bardeschi, the organization’s representative in Ukraine, singled out Odessa’s Transfiguration Cathedral, which was severely damaged in a Russian attack last July, as “a symbol of the entire community.”

The Transfiguration Cathedral in Odessa was built in 1794, destroyed by the Soviet Union in 1936, and rebuilt with donations in the 2000s.

It was consecrated in 2010 by Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill.

Baderski said the cathedral has “religious and spiritual value” to the city but can no longer be used by the community.

Seven cultural sites and one natural site in Ukraine are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, including the historic center of Odessa.

Sixteen additional sites are on UNESCO’s tentative World Heritage List and are awaiting a formal application from the Kiev government to receive World Heritage status.

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