As a result of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine has lost a significant part of its cultural heritage and infrastructure. The Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications continues to record damage to monuments and cultural institutions caused by Russian shelling.
As of now, 1390 cultural heritage sites have been damaged in Ukraine. Among them, 136 are of national importance, 1164 are of local importance, and 90 more are on the list of newly discovered sites. Cultural monuments were damaged in 18 regions and Kyiv, most of all in Kharkiv (325 sites), Kherson (269), Donetsk (164), Odesa (158) and Kyiv region with Kyiv (98).
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Destruction and damage to 2,205 cultural infrastructure facilities was also recorded, of which 409 were completely destroyed. The most affected are the institutions in Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Sumy regions.
Clubs were the most vulnerable category, with 1,064 damaged, accounting for 48.3% of the total number of destroyed cultural facilities. In addition, 790 libraries, 168 art educational institutions, 121 museums and galleries, 41 theatres, cinemas and philharmonic halls, 8 nature reserves, 9 parks and zoos, and 4 circuses were damaged.
Cultural institutions in 303 territorial communities were under shelling and occupation, which is more than 20% of all TCs in Ukraine. Due to the temporary occupation of the Luhansk region and parts of the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, the exact number of destroyed monuments cannot be determined.
Ukraine continues to document Russia’s crimes against cultural heritage and works to preserve and restore it.
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