On June 4-5, Deputy Minister, President of the National Commission of Ukraine for UNESCO, Mariana Betsa, attended the Second UNESCO Conference on Cultural Heritage in the 21st Century in Naples, the Italian Republic.

In her statement at the high-level ministerial segment of the Conference, Mariana Betsa drew attention of the event’s participants to the destruction and damage of Ukrainian cultural sites by the Russian invaders, as well as emphasized the need not only to restore the destroyed sites, but also the critical importance of holding the aggressor state to account.

“Restoring Ukraine’s cultural heritage, which has suffered and continues to suffer from Russia’s relentless attacks on our civilian sites, is not only about physical reconstruction, but also about preserving Ukrainian roots, traditions, and identity, because it is about the need to protect Ukraine from the Russian Federation’s attempts to destroy our national identity”, the President of the National Commission of Ukraine emphasized.

Touching upon the issue of synergy between UNESCO Conventions on the protection of world cultural heritage and intangible cultural heritage, Mariana Betsa emphasized the important contribution of Ukraine to the protection of cultural heritage in times of war. This concerns, in particular, the Ukrainian initiative to introduce an expert study of the legal consequences of violating the immunity of cultural heritage sites under enhanced protection granted in accordance with the Second Protocol of 1999 to the Hague Convention of 1954 for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.

As part of her participation in the Conference, the President of the National Commission of Ukraine held meetings with UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay and UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture Ernesto Ottone.

Mariana Betsa thanked UNESCO senior officials for their active support for Ukraine in the context of ongoing Russian aggression in the areas of the Organization’s mandate. The parties discussed the issues of Ukraine’s cooperation with UNESCO in the field of cultural heritage protection, ensuring the accountability of the Russian Federation for its crimes against cultural heritage. The parties paid special attention to UNESCO’s participation in conferences on the restoration of Ukraine, in particular, this year’s URC2025 conference in Rome on July 10-11, 2025.

Mariana Betsa held meetings with Minister of Culture of Italy Alessandro Giuli and Minister of Culture of Greece Lina Mendoni. The interlocutors discussed bilateral cooperation, as well as interaction within international organizations.

During her visit, Mariana Betsa also met with the Ukrainian community of Naples. The Deputy Minister noted the active support of Ukraine. In particular, Ukrainian activists handed over a MAVIC 4 drone to the State Emergency Service in Dnipropetrovsk region, an ambulance and medicines to Sumy region.

Mariana Betsa also met with the Director General of the Pompeii Archaeological Park, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, and thanked him for introducing a Ukrainian-language mobile application in the museum as an important tool for promoting Ukraine.