Protection of Cultural Heritage in the Conditions of a Full-Scale Russian-Ukrainian War: Lessons and Perspectives

Abstract

The article is devoted to the optimization of the protection of the cultural heritage ofUkraine in the conditions of Russian aggression. It is proven that the aggressor is deliberately committingcultural genocide, destroying striking historical monuments, cultural, religious, and educationalobjects. The purpose of the research is to summarize typical problems in the preservation of culturalheritage of Ukraine during the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, to learn lessons from them and todetermine perspectives. In the conditions of war, preventive actions aimed at minimizing losses fromenemy attacks come first. Such actions include the early evacuation of movable assets from the frontlineterritories and the sheltering of immovable monuments from possible air attacks. It is important to takea comprehensive and systematic approach to the issues of recording acts of vandalism and documentingwar crimes against objects of cultural heritage. The strategy chosen by the Ministry of Culture andInformation Policy of Ukraine to create digital copies of cultural values, including museum exhibits,paintings, books, archival documents, etc., is justified under the conditions of martial law. This willallow, firstly, to preserve information about the monument even under conditions of destruction of thematerial medium itself, and secondly, to prove the national belonging of the monument in case of illegalexport abroad, to reasonably demand the return of valuables or restitution. One of the ways to optimizemonument protection activities is to bring the norms of domestic legislation to international standards,which will allow directly, without appeal to the articles of the Hague and Paris Conventions, to carryout judicial and investigative procedures based on national law. The article deals with the importanceof prospective planning for the restoration of the cultural heritage of Ukraine in the post-war period, theneed to return illegally exported valuables and restitution.