The United Nation’s lead cultural protection agency, UNESCO, avoided mentioning Russia in a statement on Wednesday about a recent Kremlin attack that blew up a western Ukrainian World Heritage religious edifice, in a sharp break with the group’s past sharp criticism of Russian military attacks hitting Ukrainian historical and cultural treasures.
In a March 25 official statement, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) expressed dissatisfaction with the attack hitting and causing substantial damage to the Bernardine Monastery in Lviv’s historical center, a UNESCO World Heritage site, but neither mentioned Russia by name nor made clear which combatant had hit the monastery with an explosive weapon.
“UNESCO is deeply alarmed…cultural property is protected under the 1954 Hague Convention and the 1972 World Heritage Convention. All parties must safeguard heritage and refrain from any acts harming cultural property,” the Wednesday statement by the agency said. “UNESCO stands ready to support the authorities with assessments, protection measures and emergency assistance.”
UNESCO had condemned Russia directly for hitting World Heritage sites in Ukraine twice before, in both cases using language stronger and more direct than in the Wednesday statement.
On July 22, 2023, a Russian missile and drone strike package slammed into the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa, killing two civilians and injuring at least 18, including children. Warheads damaged 25 architectural monuments in the city center, among them, Odesa’s 1794-founded Orthodox Christian Spasno-Preobrazhensky Cathedral, a registered World Heritage site.
A missile impact heavily damaged the central altar area, demolished much of the roof, collapsed masonry and ruined original icons and wall hangings. Ukrainian bomb squad and emergency responders later identified the Russian weapon used as a Kh-22 anti-ship missile (NATO: AS-4 “Kitchen”) dropped from a bomber and carrying a one-ton warhead.
The UNESCO reaction made by then Director-General Audrey Azoulay said in part:
“UNESCO is deeply dismayed and condemns in the strongest terms the brazen attack carried out by the Russian forces… This outrageous destruction marks an escalation of violence against the cultural heritage of Ukraine. I strongly condemn this attack against culture, and I urge the Russian Federation… to comply with its obligations under international law.”
On June 10, 2025, Russia launched one of its biggest air attacks against Ukraine of the entire war with strike packages combining nearly 500 drones and an estimated 11 missiles of mixed types. The main target was the capital Kyiv. Seven people were killed and at least thirteen were injured nationwide.
Among the more than two dozen buildings damaged by strikes and explosion blast waves in the capital were Kyiv’s 11th-century Saint-Sophia Cathedral and other historical structures on the territory of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, a millennium-old Christian monastery and World Heritage site.
UNESCO in a June 11 statement, condemned the attack and identified the responsible military clearly, saying in part:
“UNESCO expresses its grave concern over the increasing threats affecting the World Heritage site ‘Kyiv: Saint-Sophia Cathedral and Related Monastic Buildings, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, following the attack on 10 June 2025 by the Russian Federation. This damage occurred amidst a surge of attacks on numerous Ukrainian cities, resulting in civilian casualties and damage to cultural and educational institutions…UNESCO condemns any attack that could threaten World Heritage sites.”
The Tuesday attack hit the Bernardine Monastery complex, an edifice part of the “Lviv – the Ensemble of the Historic Centre.” Lviv’s center and historical buildings within it were listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1998. An Iranian-designed Shahed kamikaze drone struck the monastery’s roof at about 4:20-4:30 p.m. local time (14:20-14:30 UTC) on Tuesday.
Also called Geran-2 if manufactured in Russia under license, the Russia-launched unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flew in low on a southern approach and exploded touching off a fireball, heavy black smoke and fires not extinguished until evening. Russian modifications to Shahed drones include warheads filled with metal pellets to inflict heavier casualties, or with incendiary materials to spark fires.
The strike was part of a part of probably Russia’s biggest mass drone attack on Ukraine of the entire war, with nearly 1,000 kamikaze and decoy robot aircraft launched overnight and during the day, along with 34 missiles. Nationwide, the attacks killed five to seven civilians and injured 40-50, local news reports said. In Lviv, drones struck civilian areas in at least two districts: the historic center near the monastery) and the Sykhiv district. Between 22 and 32 Lvivites were treated for injuries, Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said.
The monastery suffered significant damage from the blast and fire. Services were temporarily halted. In contrast with UNESCO, Ukrainian official and public reaction to the Russian strike was brutal and direct.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday declared the strike: “(A)nother act of barbarism and a cultural crime committed by Russia against Ukraine… people were injured. This attack is not only a war crime against civilians, but also a direct assault on the cultural heritage of humanity…Russia has demonstrated its barbaric disregard for the efforts of the international community and UNESCO itself.”
The Lviv-based news portal portal.lviv.ua, a prominent regional outlet covering western Ukraine, reported: “Ukraine has already called on UNESCO to respond to this barbaric strike by Russia on the world-level cultural heritage in the center of Lviv.”
In neighboring Warsaw, Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs saw the Russian attack identically, in a statement in its official “X” channel saying: “Poland condemns in the strongest terms Russia’s barbaric drone attack on the historic center of Lviv.”
Founded in the 16th century and rebuilt in the late 16th and 17th centuries in Italian-Dutch style, the Bernardine Monastery is part of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and is in active use. It is also a popular Lviv tourist attraction due to its central location and unique combination of Polish, Ukrainian, and Austro-Hungarian architecture. Within Ukraine, the monastery’s cultural significance is comparable to the Benedictine Melk Abby monastery in Austria or the Kraków Bernardine Monastery, Church of St. Bernard of Siena in Poland.
Lviv’s Bernardine Monastery, Odesa’s Spasno-Preobrazhensky Cathedral and Kyiv’s Saint Sophia church are the only three of the eight total official UNESCO World Cultural Heritage sites listed in Ukraine that have suffered war-related damage following Russia’s second invasion in 2022. A fourth location, an archaeological site and ancient Greek colony in eastern Crimea, is occupied by Russian forces.
Two candidate UNESCO World Heritage sites in Ukraine have been damaged by Russian military activity, including by air raids, drone strikes and missile attacks: the Historic Center of the northern city of Chernihiv and the Freedom Square and Derzhprom State Industry Building in the eastern city Kharkiv.
Two more candidate UNESCO sites, the Askaniya Nova National Steppe Biosphere Reserve in the southern Kherson region and the Bagçesaray Palace of the Crimean Khans in Crimea, are under Russian occupation.
UNESCO had not responded to a Kyiv Post request for comment by the time this article was published.