The delegation of Ukraine, consisting of representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources and the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, headed by Anastasia Bondar, Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy, secured a significant victory for Ukraine at the 46th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.

Today, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee (WHC) reviewed the state of conservation of the Ukrainian World Heritage Sites “Kyiv: Saint-Sophia Cathedral and Related Monastic Buildings, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra”, “L'viv – the Ensemble of the Historic Centre” and “The Historic Centre of Odesa”.

Following its consideration and voting, the WHC adopted decisions in which, inter alia, it called on the Russian Federation to refrain from any actions that would cause direct or indirect damage to the properties and buffer zone, the cultural heritage of Ukraine as a whole and the properties inscribed on the Tentative List, as well as to comply with its obligations under international law, including Article 6 of the World Heritage Convention.

“Today's decision of the World Heritage Committee has long-term positive consequences for Ukraine. First, the Committee has finally documented in its official documents that it is the Russian Federation that is the cause of the threat to Ukraine's cultural heritage sites. We finally managed to avoid vague wording about “appeals to all parties.” Secondly, the support of Ukraine in the CWC sends a clear signal to the aggressor country that the civilized world stands with Ukraine in restoring justice and protecting Ukraine's cultural heritage,” said Iryna Borovets, Head of the National Commission for UNESCO, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

For the first time, the Committee also strongly condemned Russia's full-scale aggression and the deliberate destruction of cultural heritage and Ukrainian identity.

The work of the diplomatic service with the member states of the WHC, as well as the professional approach of Ukrainian experts from the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy and the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, who represent our country in the WHC, contributed to the adoption of a tougher decision compared to last year and to such a promising outcome.

These decisions are an important recognition of the efforts of Ukrainian diplomacy and the importance of our cultural heritage for humanity as a whole. They are the result of the professionalism with which Ukraine defends its national values in the international arena.

We would also like to thank our partners for their consistent support in the consideration of Ukrainian issues at UNESCO.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine's cultural heritage sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List have been under constant attack, and therefore, according to the decision of the World Heritage Committee adopted at its 45th session in 2023, they have been inscribed on List of World Heritage in Danger. This year's decisions of the Committee leave Ukrainian sites on the list.

Ukraine was elected to the World Heritage Committee in November 2023 at the 24th session of the General Assembly of States Parties to the 1972 Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.