Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022, marking a steep escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014 following the Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity. The enemy in the war against Ukraine is ruthlessly destroying our cultural heritage every day. Enemy artillery shelling and bombing almost completely destroyed a number of Ukrainian cities: Mariupol, Volnovakha, Okhtyrka, Izyum. Kharkiv, Sumy, and Chernihiv suffered catastrophic damage. Kyiv, Mykolayiv, Zaporizhia and other cities are suffering from the shelling.

1. ARCHITECTURAL
MONUMENTS DAMAGED
BY THE WAR
HOW RUSSIA IS
DESTROYING CULTURAL
MONUMENTS OF UKRAINE

2. THE RUSSIAN ARMY HAS BEEN SHELLING UKRAINIAN CITIES FOR THREE
WEEKS. ACCORDING TO OFFICIAL DATA, MORE THAN 600 BUILDINGS WERE
DAMAGED IN KHARKIV ALONE. IN MARIUPOL, 90% OF ALL BUILDINGS WERE
DESTROYED OR DAMAGED. I WILL TELL YOU WHAT ARCHITECTURAL
MONUMENTS AND CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS HAVE BEEN AFFECTED AND
HOW.

3. LIBRARIES
REGIONAL YOUTH LIBRARY IN CHERNIHIV
• REGIONAL YOUTH LIBRARY IN CHERNIHIV. DAMAGED
BY SHELLING ON MARCH 11. PARTIALLY DESTROYED
ROOF, WINDOWS, INTERIORS. THE BUILDING IN THE
NEO-GOTHIC STYLE WAS BUILT IN THE LATE
NINETEENTH CENTURY. IT HOUSED THE ORPHANAGE,
THE MUSEUM OF ANTIQUITIES OF VASYL TARNOVSKY,
WHICH STORED OBJECTS OF THE COSSACK ERA AND
PERSONAL BELONGINGS OF TARAS SHEVCHENKO.
SINCE 1978, THE LIBRARY HAS BEEN LOCATED HERE.

4. FORMER SHCHORS CINEMA
• FORMER SHCHORS
CINEMA IN
CHERNIHIV. IT WAS
BUILT IN 1935-1947.
THE ARCHITECTURAL
MONUMENT WAS
SEVERELY DAMAGED
ON FEBRUARY 27
WHEN IT WAS HIT BY
A ROCKET.
AFTER
BEFORE

5. • DONETSK ACADEMIC REGIONAL
DRAMA THEATER IN MARIUPOL,
WHERE MORE THAN A
THOUSAND PEOPLE HID. BUILT
IN 1956-1960, THE THEATER IS A
MONUMENT OF ARCHITECTURE,
HISTORY AND MONUMENTAL ART
- AND IS NOW COMPLETELY
DESTROYED. ON MARCH 16, HE
WAS HIT BY A BOMB.
Donetsk Academic
Regional Drama Theater

6. MUSEUMS
THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND LOCAL LORE
• THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND
LOCAL LORE IN THE VILLAGE OF
IVANKIV IN THE KYIV REGION -
HERE, IN PARTICULAR, THE WORKS
OF THE ARTIST MARIA
PRYMACHENKO WERE KEPT. THE
BUILDING IS NOT AN
ARCHITECTURAL MONUMENT, BUT
HAS A LONG HISTORY: IT WAS BUILT
IN THE XIX CENTURY, IT WAS
REBUILT IN SOVIET TIMES. ON
FEBRUARY 27, IT BURNED DOWN
TOGETHER WITH SOME OF THE
EXHIBITS.
AFTER
BEFORE

7. • THE FACADE, WINDOWS AND STAINED GLASS WINDOWS WERE DAMAGED THERE. THE
ADMINISTRATION SAYS THE EXHIBITS HAVE SURVIVED, BUT THE BUILDING NEEDS TO BE
URGENTLY ISOLATED FROM STREET AIR, WHICH COULD DESTROY THEM.

8. • MUSEUM OF LOCAL
LORE IN OKHTYRKA,
SUMY REGION. ON
MARCH 9, WINDOWS
WERE SMASHED, ROOFS
AND WALLS DAMAGED
DURING SHELLING. THE
MUSEUM WAS HOUSED IN
A TWO-STORY ESTATE OF
THE EARLY TWENTIETH
CENTURY.
AFTER
BEFORE

9. • HOUSE OF COUNCILS IN
KHARKIV (REGIONAL
STATE
ADMINISTRATION).
BUILT IN 1954, IT IS AN
EXAMPLE OF THE
STALINIST EMPIRE. ON
MARCH 1, A CALIBER
ROCKET STRUCK,
KNOCKING OUT
WINDOWS, DESTROYING
PART OF THE FLOORS
AND ROOF.

10. • THE FACADES, ROOF
AND INTERIORS OF
THE PEOPLE'S
COMMISSARIAT OF
LABOR, BUILT IN
1925, WERE DAMAGED
ON MARCH 2. THE
FACULTY OF
ECONOMICS OF THE
VN KARAZIN
KHARKIV NATIONAL
UNIVERSITY IS
LOCATED HERE.

11. • THE BUILDING IS AT 8 SVOBODY STREET IN KHARKIV. IT WAS BUILT IN 1911.
DESTROYED ON MARCH 14, ALONG WITH THE ORIGINAL ART NOUVEAU
ENTRANCE DECORATION.
AFTER
BEFORE

12. • KYIV TV TOWER. IT WAS
BUILT IN 1973 ACCORDING
TO THE DESIGN OF
ENGINEER VITALIY
SHIMANOVSKY WITHOUT
CRANES. THE 385-METER
STRUCTURE STILL
REMAINS THE TALLEST
BUILDING IN UKRAINE.
ON MARCH 1, RUSSIAN
TROOPS FIRED ON THE
TOWER, DAMAGING A
HARDWARE AND
TRANSFORMER
SUBSTATION. THE NEARBY
BABIN YAR HOLOCAUST
MEMORIAL ALSO CAME
UNDER FIRE.
BEFORE AFTER

13. • THE SHELLING DAMAGED AT LEAST 28
RELIGIOUS BUILDINGS. AMONG THEM ARE THE
SVYATOGORSK LAVRA, THE WOODEN ST.
GEORGE’S CHURCH OF THE XIX CENTURY IN
THE VILLAGE OF ZAVORYCHI, KYIV REGION, THE
CHURCH OF THE KAZAN ICON OF THE MOTHER
OF GOD OF THE XIX CENTURY IN CHERNIHIV,
THE HOLY DORMITION CATHEDRAL OF THE
XVIII-XIX CENTURIES IN KHARKIV. ON MARCH
7, A DIRECT HIT BY A SHELL COMPLETELY
DESTROYED AN ARCHITECTURAL MONUMENT OF
NATIONAL IMPORTANCE IN THE ZHYTOMYR
REGION - THE WOODEN ORTHODOX CHURCH
OF THE NATIVITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN. IT
WAS BUILT IN 1862.
BEFORE
AFTER

14. ALSO, AS A RESULT OF ACTIVE HOSTILITIES IN SLOBOZHANSHCHYNA,
MANY RELIGIOUS MONUMENTS WERE DAMAGED, IN PARTICULAR:
• HOLY DORMITION CATHEDRAL OF
THE XVIII CENTURY. IN KHARKIV;
• CHURCH OF JOHN THE MYRRH-
BEARER IN KHARKIV;
• UNIVERSITY ST. ANTHONY'S CHURCH
OF THE XIX CENTURY. IN KHARKIV.
• EVANGELICAL BAPTIST HOUSE OF
PRAYER IN IZIUM;
• CHURCH OF THE HOLY FAITHFUL
QUEEN TAMARA OF UKRAINE IN
KHARKIV;
• SEVERODONETSK CHRIST-CHRISTMAS
CATHEDRAL.
• HOLY DORMITION LAVRA IN
SVYATOHIRSK. St. George's Church, Zavorychi
Holy Dormition Lavra, Svyatohirsk

15. THESE ARE JUST SOME OF THE CASES RECORDED SINCE THE FULL-SCALE RUSSIAN INVASION
OF UKRAINE IN 2022. EVERY DAY, RUSSIANS CYNICALLY AND DELIBERATELY DESTROY
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS, HISTORICAL ESTATES, ARCHITECTURAL MONUMENTS, AND SO
ON.
DESPITE RUSSIA’S EFFORTS TO DESTROY CULTURAL MONUMENTS, UKRAINIANS ARE
PRESERVING AND CREATING THEIR IDENTITY WITH RENEWED VIGOR.

16. ALREADY RECORDED WAR CRIMES AGAINST UKRAINIAN
CULTURAL MONUMENTS CAN BE VIEWED AT THE LINK.
SUBSEQUENTLY, THE MATERIALS CAN BE TRANSFERRED
TO THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT IN THE HAGUE
TO INVESTIGATE CRIMES IN RUSSIA.