EU to Help Ukraine Protect Cultural Heritage from War
The European Union plans to help Ukraine protect its cultural heritage and monuments from the effects of the war, Polish Minister of Culture Anna Wróblewska said at a press conference after an informal meeting of the EU Council at the level of culture ministers in Warsaw on 8 April.
This was reported by The Gaze with reference to European Pravda.
Wróblewska stressed that the war in Ukraine has led to damage to cultural heritage sites, so it is necessary to strengthen their protection.
‘The war in Ukraine shows what tragic consequences damage to cultural heritage can have. So, we want to support Ukraine. To strengthen this protection, we need to share best practices and our experience. We are talking about digital archiving and preventive measures,’ Wróblewska said.
The Polish minister added that the EU and Ukraine will ‘exchange documents and share materials that will help us create a catalogue of best practices’.
The informal meeting of the EU Council was also attended by Mykola Tochytskyi, Minister of Culture of Ukraine.
In his speech, he reminded that two of the 27 Ukrainian sites on the International List of Cultural Monuments under enhanced protection - Kharkiv's Derzhprom and the Odesa Philharmonic - have already been damaged by Russian shelling, and that as of March 2025, around 2,200 cultural heritage sites have been damaged, with more than 400 completely destroyed.
The minister also reminded that as a result of the war, Ukraine lost numerous museum collections - more than 1.7 million exhibits remained in the occupied territories, and Russia de facto appropriated 77 Ukrainian museums.
Tochytskyi stressed that Russia's actions in this area are a violation of international law and called for the prevention of international cooperation with Russian museums that have been involved in Russia's appropriation of Ukrainian cultural heritage sites.
In December 2024, Ukraine became a full participant in the EU's Creative Europe programme, which aims to support the development of the cultural and artistic sector.
In June 2024, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution declaring genocide as Russia's attempt to destroy Ukrainian cultural identity.