St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine is on the UNESCO List of world Heritage sites. The capital city of Ukraine is in the crosshairs of the Russian military as the invasion of the country is in its 13th day. Credit: Rbrechko /CC BY-SA 4.0UNESCO, the UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, says it is “gravely concerned” over its listed sites in Ukraine which are threatened by the Russian invasion of the country.
Sites of supreme Ukrainian importance have already sustained damage, including one museum which houses works that are emblematic of Ukrainian and Ivankiv culture, located about 50 miles north of the capital city of Kyiv.
The Ivankiv Museum was reportedly burned by Russian forces after the invasion, leading to the loss of several paintings by Ukraine’s beloved folk artist Maria Prymachenko. A local man risked his life by running into the building; he was successful in saving ten of her 25 works that were stored there, according to a report in The Times of London.
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“The museum was the first building in Ivankiv that the Russians destroyed,” the artist’s great-granddaughter, Anastasiia Prymachenko, told interviewers from the Times. “I think it is because they want to destroy our Ukrainian culture — the museum is the only thing we have there, with lots of artifacts showing Ukrainian and Ivankiv culture.”
