Ukraine documents 534 offenses against cultural heritage sites since Russian invasion

Russia has committed at least 534 offenses against Ukrainian cultural heritage sites since the 2014 annexation of Crimea, according to figures by a nongovernmental organization registered in Kyiv, reported from CNN .

Elmira Ablialimova-Chyigoz, project manager at The Crimean Institute for Strategic Studies (CISS), presented the findings on Wednesday at a news conference in Kyiv.

Violations include "appropriation of cultural heritage sites, use of cultural property for military purposes, transfer of cultural property from the occupied territories, looting of museums, illegal archaeological works, modification and reconstruction of monuments and decontextualization of historical sites,” Ablialimova-Chyigoz said.

The organization has been researching cultural heritage violations dating back to 2014, when Russia illegally invaded annexed Crimea, where Ablialimova-Chyigoz noted 200 offenses have been recorded.

In other Ukrainian regions occupied by Russia since 2022 (Kherson, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk), 334 cultural heritage violations have been recorded, she said.

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