UNESCO: 53 cultural sites have been damaged in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion

At least 53 cultural sites have been damaged in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on February 24, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reported Friday.

The damage included 29 religious sites, 16 historical buildings, four museums and four archaeological monuments, and (UNESCO) was able to verify the damage through satellite images, according to a spokesperson for the organization, stressing that the list is "not comprehensive."

"Our experts continue to investigate a number of reports," the spokesman added.

Five of these sites are located in the Chernihiv region (north), which is being bombed by the Russian army, and are on the "indicative" list of UNESCO, meaning that Kyiv should nominate them to become part of the United Nations World Heritage List.

Five other sites are located in the Kyiv region and 18 in the Kharkiv region, which is also subject to intense Russian bombardment, according to the list compiled by UNESCO.

The rest of the affected sites are located in Sumy (northeast), Zhytomyr (west of Kyiv), Zaporizhia (south), Donetsk and Lugansk (east).

This list does not provide information about the city of Mariupol (southeast), which is besieged and bombed by Russian forces, and the city of Kherson (south), which is occupied by these forces.

In response to a question about whether the damage was caused by Russian forces, the spokesman replied that "these 53 sites that we were able to verify the damage to are based on reports provided by the Ukrainian authorities," which implies Russia's responsibility.

Russia is a signatory to the 1954 United Nations Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.

The Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, stressed in a letter she sent on March 17 to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that "any violation of these standards will entail international responsibility for its perpetrators."

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