UNESCO Heritage Damage to St. Sophia Cathedral Must Be Prosecuted in International Courts – Minister of Culture
Damage inflicted on Kyiv’s UNESCO World Heritage Site, St. Sophia Cathedral, during recent Russian military attacks must be investigated by international judicial institutions, Ukrainian Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications Mykola Tochytskyi said, The Gaze reports.
“This incident must be widely publicized and trigger international intervention to stop the terrorist mass attacks on Ukrainian cities!” Tochytskyi emphasized during a media briefing.
“All actions of the Russian Federation aimed at destroying or damaging Ukraine’s cultural heritage will be documented and submitted to international legal institutions.”
Tochytskyi underscored that the attack on St. Sophia is yet another indication of Russia’s “systematic and cynical aggression” against Ukraine’s cultural legacy.
The Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications (MKSC) has already notified the UNESCO World Heritage Centre of the strike.
The Ukrainian delegation also plans to highlight this violation during the 47th session of the World Heritage Committee in Paris this July.
Tochytskyi reminded journalists that the cultural site “St. Sophia Cathedral and Related Monastic Buildings, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra” holds three international statuses:
• A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990;
• A UNESCO World Heritage Site in Danger since 2023;
• A site listed under enhanced protection in the International List of Cultural Property under the Second Protocol to the 1954 Hague Convention.
Under the UNESCO Convention, signatory states—including Russia—are obligated “to refrain from any deliberate measures which might damage directly or indirectly the cultural and natural heritage… located on the territory of other states parties to this Convention.”
Furthermore, the Hague Convention and its protocols provide for the international immunity of cultural heritage sites, making the recent strike a breach of both the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage and the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.
Read more on The Gaze: Ukrainian Art & Culture at Risk: Frontline Evacuations and Preservation Efforts