Russia’s War Has Damaged Over 2,300 Cultural Institutions in Ukraine
Russia’s full-scale invasion has inflicted massive losses on Ukraine’s cultural heritage and infrastructure.
According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications, as The Gaze reports, 1,482 cultural heritage sites and 2,302 cultural infrastructure facilities have been damaged across the country as of May 25, 2025.
Among the heritage sites affected 145 are of national significance, 1,232 of local significance, and 105 are newly discovered heritage sites.
The ministry also confirmed that 436 cultural infrastructure sites (18.6%) have been completely destroyed. The most affected regions include Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Sumy.
The breakdown of damaged cultural infrastructure is as follows:
• Clubs and community centers: 1,118
• Libraries: 808
• Art schools: 176
• Museums and galleries: 129
• Theaters, cinemas, and philharmonics: 48
• Reserves: 8
• Parks and zoos: 10
• Circuses: 4
• Film studios: 1
These losses have affected 310 territorial communities, or 21% of all local communities in Ukraine.
Many of the most damaged areas remain under Russian occupation, particularly in Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Kherson, making it impossible to fully assess the destruction in those regions.
As The Gaze previously reported, since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the war has taken the lives of 204 artists and 107 journalists and media professionals, both Ukrainian and foreign.
Read more on The Gaze: Ukrainian Art & Culture at Risk: Frontline Evacuations and Preservation Efforts