Russia destroying cultural sites in Ukraine ‘marks an escalation,’ UN says
Mike Brest
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UNESCO, the United Nations’s educational, scientific, and cultural organization, condemned recent Russian strikes on Ukrainian cultural sites “in the strongest terms.”
Russian missiles damaged roughly two dozen Ukrainian architectural landmarks on Monday, including a historic Orthodox cathedral in Odesa, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media.
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“This outrageous destruction marks an escalation of violence against cultural heritage of Ukraine,” Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO’s director-general, said in a statement. “I strongly condemn this attack against culture, and I urge the Russian Federation to take meaningful action to comply with its obligations under international law, including the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and the 1972 World Heritage Convention.”
UNESCO will send a team of investigators to conduct a preliminary assessment of the destruction.
Intentionally destroying cultural sites could amount to war crimes, which Oleh Kiper, the head of Odesa’s regional military administration, claimed was the case, saying, “Russians deliberately aimed their missiles at the historic city center of Odessa, which is under the UNESCO protection.”
“Everything that was built with hard work by great architects is now being destroyed by cynical inhumans,” Kiper said.
Yuri Kruk, the leader of the Ukrainian military command in Odesa, said in a statement that it was “the largest blow of the enemy across the historic center of the city of Odessa since the beginning of the war.”
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Russia has targeted the Ukrainian port city of Odesa this week, following its decision to withdraw from an agreement that permitted Ukrainian grain exports to leave the country, raising fears of a global food insecurity crisis. Russian leaders have also indicated they will consider ships in the Black Sea to be friendly to Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday it would be “impossible” for them to rejoin the grain deal until specific conditions are met.