Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha held a meeting in Kyiv with UNESCO Director-General Khaled El-Enany, who arrived in Ukraine on his first visit in the role.
The visit coincided with celebrations marking the 975th anniversary of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, a World Heritage site, the Foreign Ministry’s press service reported.
During the talks, Sybiha and El-Enany focused on protecting Ukraine’s cultural and historical heritage from regular Russian attacks. The foreign minister spoke about Russian strikes on museums, schools, and landmarks, and urged UNESCO to continuously monitor the condition of sites at risk, document the damage, and help ensure those responsible are held accountable.
The officials also separately addressed the problem of the mass removal of Ukrainian cultural valuables from the occupied territories. The acting foreign minister stressed the need to strengthen UNESCO’s international instruments for returning stolen artefacts and proposed using Ukraine’s experience to improve global mechanisms for protecting heritage during wars.
The Foreign Ministry said that as of August, UNESCO had already mobilised more than $77 million to support Ukraine. In particular, at the recent Recovery Conference in Gdańsk, additional €2.5 million was announced for Ukrainian culture and science.