Two and a half years after the Russian invasion, Ukraine’s cultural heritage remains in danger

The United States government is doubling down on its commitment to protect Ukrainian culture amid the Eastern European country’s ongoing war with Russia.

On September 19, US officials announced a new $1 million grant to the International Center for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), which will use the funds to “support the next phase of a multi-year project to help Ukraine improve risk reduction and emergency management of its cultural heritage,” according to a statement. The grant is part of the US commitment of $10.5 million to Ukraine Cultural Heritage Initiative in Ukrainethat was established in 2023 by the US Department of State.

“Ukraine is fighting the Russian invasion on all fronts,” Maksym Kovalenko, the Ukrainian consul general in Naples, Italy, said in the statement. “The cultural front is no exception. The support of the international community gives us the ability to respond to the challenges of war and despite everything, develop a long-term strategy for the preservation and restoration of our cultural heritage.”

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, UNESCO has verified the damage to these areas 438 Ukrainian cultural sightsincluding religious sites, buildings of historical or artistic interest, museums, monuments, libraries and an archive. The agency before said it was “deeply concerned” about threats to Ukrainian heritage.

US – ICCROM Signing Ceremony

Russian forces have removed “entire truckloads of works of art and historical artifacts” from Ukrainian museums, ostensibly for “safekeeping,” Vitaly Shevchenko reports. BBC news. In some museums in Russian-occupied Ukraine, Russian forces have removed exhibits and replaced them with propaganda glorifying the war.

In a 2023 essay for Smithsonian magazine, Smithsonian Distinguished Scholar and Ambassador-at-Large Richard Kurin wrote: “These attacks are not simply random, nor do they represent collateral damage. Rather, they suggest a targeted attack on Ukrainian history, culture and identity, a means to that end [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s objectives: the destruction is a deliberate attempt to erase Ukrainian history and culture.”

Hundreds of professionals associated with Ukrainian and international organizations, including the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative– have been fighting the threat to Ukraine’s heritage for the past two years. In some cases, cultural heritage workers have managed to smuggle important works of art out of Ukraine and exhibit them elsewhere. For example, last year five precious works of art rescued from the Khanenko Museum in Kiev were on display at the Louvre in Paris.

The $1 million grant – the second largest awarded to date under the Ukraine Cultural Heritage Response Initiative – follows recently imposed support measures. emergency import restrictions aimed at combating the illegal removal and sale of Ukrainian cultural artifacts. These restrictions, which limit the types of Ukrainian cultural property entering the US, will remain in effect until 2029.

In addition to offering funds for cultural rescue initiatives, the U.S announced more than $8 billion in military aid to Ukraine on September 26, the day Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the White House. In total, Congress has allocated $175 billion in aid to Ukraine Council on Foreign Relations.

“Ukrainians are fighting for the human rights and freedoms that we all cherish,” says Lee Satterfieldthe US acting secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, in the statement. “And they are also, in a very real sense, fighting for their identity as a separate and unique culture, which Vladimir Putin has denied – a denial he has used to falsely justify his brutal, large-scale invasion. [The $1 million] The funding will support Ukrainians’ heroic efforts to protect and preserve their cultural heritage.”