In July, Russian missiles fell on Odessa. Result, two dead civilians and twenty wounded. On the material side, the historic center of the pearl of the Black Sea, urgently classified as heritage in danger by Unesco in January, was also hard hit. About fifty cultural sites, including the Orthodox Cathedral of the Transfiguration, suffered the bombs. Dispatched to the scene between July 29 and August 1, a UNESCO mission assessed the damage, reviewing its estimates at the same time. “Since the visit, it is clear that the magnitude of the impact on the historic center of the city is greater than what was initially expected,” explains Chiara Dezzi Bardeschi, representative of the UN institution in Ukraine.
In Paris, at the UNESCO headquarters, there is a significant increase in the destruction of heritage in Ukraine. “We see that it is accelerating, we are told. Every week, we receive more and more reports. The international organization has counted 274 cultural properties damaged since the start of the war on February 24, 2022. For its part, since that same date, Ukraine has accused Russia of having damaged at least 763 cultural sites. In a statement published on August 7, the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture clarified that “according to data from regional military administrations, 23 sites were completely destroyed, 625 sites were partially damaged and the extent of damage to 115 sites remains unknown. » The difference seems huge. Especially since by extrapolating a little, the New York Smithsonian Foundation estimates the damaged cultural sites at nearly 1,600 cases. But according to Krista Pikkat, director of Culture and Emergency Situations of the UN organization, these discrepancies are due to a difference in methodology.
“At Unesco, we cross sources, explains Krista Pikkat. When a cultural site is reported as damaged, we first confirm with satellite images from our partner Unitar (the UN Research Institute), then we confirm with reliable sources on site.” These methods do not allow the institution to be exhaustive. “The problem in Ukraine is that you can’t always be on the ground, especially in combat zones,” she adds. Furthermore, the classification of heritage sites is potentially different. “At Unesco, we use the provisions of the 1954 Hague Convention”, explains Culture and Emergency Situations. “This text defines what cultural property is, and also criteria for its state of destruction,” recalls Krista Pikkat. The Ukrainian Ministry is not bound by this convention and definitions may vary. “It is difficult to know how they categorize cultural property,” she notes.
“Our missions are above all to organize the reconstruction after the war and to evaluate it financially,” adds Krista Pikkat. And according to Audrey Azoulay, Director General of Unesco, the investment will be colossal. In April, on a visit to kyiv, Chernihiv and Odessa, she predicted that “to rebuild but also to redress the situation, it will be necessary to invest 6.9 billion dollars in the cultural sector in Ukraine over the next ten years.”
Other explanations are advanced by Krisat Pikkat. “The purpose of the operation for us is first to raise awareness of war crimes against heritage.” This should then make it possible to organize a trial before the International Criminal Court. In 2018, the legal body issued an arrest warrant against a jihadist from the Al Qaeda group. He was accused of crimes against humanity for having, among other things, “taken part in the destruction of the mausoleums of Muslim saints in Timbuktu” between 2012 and 2013, described a press release from the UN.
“Knowing who destroyed what does not interest us, our approach is above all scientific”, concluded Thomas Mallard, head of the press service of the international institution. For the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture, the issue is quite different. Both Ukraine and Russia are waging an information war. On February 9, 2023, on the occasion of the presentation of a report from his services, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell affirmed that “war is not only waged by soldiers on the battlefield; it is also in the informational field in order to win the hearts and minds of the people”. In Ukraine, “they put as many cultural assets as possible on their list,” says Krista Pikkat.
