How Russia is stealing and destroying Ukrainian cultural heritage: the number of monuments affected
The occupiers continue to destroy Ukraine’s historical heritage.
The aftermath of a missile strike on the historic center of Lviv
Russia persistently targets Ukraine's cultural legacy, looting valuable artifacts and transporting them to their own museums. A recent act of cultural terrorism occurred in Lviv, where Russian forces attacked the historic city center and the UNESCO buffer zone. In particular, on the streets of Konovaltsia, Melnyka and Kokorudza, there are residential buildings of the beginning of the 20th century, built in the "Secession" architectural style.
This is stated in the story of TSN correspondent Alina Lisova.
Two ancient churches in Donetsk, which survived World War II, could not withstand Russian bombardments. In early July 2024, the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, over a century old, had its windows shattered, walls and ceiling collapsed, and altar destroyed. The St. George's Church, the oldest in Donetsk, was completely demolished by Russian artillery fire.
"During the full-scale phase of the war, more than 700 churches and religious buildings were destroyed in Ukraine. And this is not only about the Orthodox Church, but also synagogues were damaged, mosques, Muslim religious centers, a lot of Baptist and Evangelical churches, and here the statistics are really very dramatic," - says the general director of the Maidan Museum, Candidate of Historical Sciences Ihor Poshivaylo.
Destroyed church in Donetsk region
Russia also destroyed a building of Kyiv State Academy of Decorative Applied Arts and Design in March this year, when it was struck by debris from downed Russian missiles. "Symbolically, the academy bears the name of Mykhailo Boychuk, who was repressed by the Bolsheviks in the 1930s. He was a key figure in Ukrainian artistic revival and cultural identity. What we’re witnessing now is the deliberate destruction of Ukraine's cultural heritage," Poshyvailo stated.
Yaroslava Savchenko, an international lawyer, provides an example of yet another barbaric crime committed by the Russians involving Chersonesus Taurica. At the site of this unique world-class historical monument in Sevastopol, the occupiers are constructing a new building, essentially burying archaeological artifacts underground.
Destroyed church in Donetsk region
Since the start of the full-scale invasion, over 1,080 cultural and historical monuments have been destroyed, damaged or looted. These are the figures provided by the Prosecutor General's Office. Currently, they are also investigating nearly a hundred criminal cases related to war crimes against Ukraine's cultural heritage.
"International art experts say that the looting of Ukrainian museums by the Russian occupiers could be the largest collective theft of art since the Nazi plundering of Europe during World War II. The mass nature of these crimes allows them to be considered crimes against humanity, and the fact that they are part of a broader, systematic campaign to destroy the Ukrainian people – an element of the crime of genocide," says Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin.
"They don't know how to create. They are capable – and they do it very well – of destroying, stealing, and appropriating. This is the mentality of a horde, which neither works its own land nor cultivates it, nor creates its own product, but merely seizes and steals it," Candidate of Historical Sciences Ihor Poshivaylo says.
The building of the Mykhailo Boichuk Kyiv State Academy of Decorative Applied Arts and Design
Restoring damaged cultural monuments is both more expensive and time-consuming than rebuilding ordinary houses. Therefore, until the war is over, restoration is not being considered, according to the Ministry of Culture. However, they have already established a Restoration Office. Rostyslav Karandeev, while still serving as acting Minister of Culture, explained that the goal of the Office is to develop all the necessary legislative mechanisms so that restoration can begin immediately after victory.
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