Unesco fears for Ukraine's heritage as 160 sites damaged in bombardment
UN’s cultural body warns of international consequences With more than 160 historical sites having already been damaged or destroyed since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the UN’s cultural agency is stressing the importance of protecting the world’s heritage during times of conflict. It is 40 years since Unesco launched the first World Heritage Day for monuments and sites, and recently its work has become more important than ever. Eight years since ISIS’s destruction of 80 per cent of Iraq’s historic sites in Mosul, Unesco is only just commencing restoration work. But just weeks before reconstruction work began there in March, Russia invaded Ukraine, putting yet more historic sites in jeopardy. “We are extremely concerned about the development of the situation,” Unesco told The National . “Very serious information has come to us, concerning other cultural sites.” Ukraine’s culture ministry has recorded 166 cultural sites which have been destroyed or damaged as a result of Russian ...