UNESCO Reaffirms Support for Rebuilding Ukraine
The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has reaffirmed its support for rebuilding Ukraine.
UNESCO's Director-General Audrey Azoulay traveled to the war-torn nation to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky and visit Kyiv, Odessa, and Chernihiv. "Sometimes there are only words. With UNESCO, there are concrete result," Zelensky said
“Since the very first days of the war, UNESCO has stood by the Ukrainian people to help protect culture, heritage, education and the safety of journalists. These are the pillars of our humanity, of our identities; the pillars of the country’s recovery and of peace,” Azouly said in a briefing.
Since the Russian invasion in February 2022, over 250 cultural heritage sites—religious sites, museums, monuments, and more—have been damaged, according to the UN agency. Earlier this year, Odesa was designated a World Heritage Site, a move that was sped-up to help preserve the city's cultural heritage. Including Odesa, Ukraine has eight World Heritage Sites, including Lyiv and Kyiv.
"Given daily threats of Russian strikes we must provide a clear signal that the world will not turn a blind eye to the destruction of our common history, our common culture, our common heritage," Zelensky said when he asked UNESCO to fast-track the process for the designation. "One of the steps for this should be the preservation of the historical centre of Odesa —a beautiful city, an important port of the Black Sea and an important source of culture for millions of people in different countries."
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