This attack, the first to take place in an area protected by the World Heritage Convention since the outbreak of the war on 24 February 2022, is a violation of this Convention as well as of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.
The Organization expresses its sincere condolences to the families of the five victims, according to a provisional report, and its support to those injured and to the people of L'viv.
UNESCO recalls the obligations of States Parties under these widely ratified normative instruments. States Parties to the World Heritage Convention undertake not to take any deliberate measures which might damage the cultural and natural heritage situated on the territory of other States Parties. These obligations apply to the buffer zones.
Buffer zones are an additional layer of protection for World Heritage sites and whose boundaries are recognised and approved by the World Heritage Committee.
Under the 1954 Hague Convention, States Parties also commit to refrain from any act of hostility directed against cultural property.
In March 2022, Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, sent a letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation to remind him of these obligations and to specify the coordinates of the World Heritage sites in Ukraine.
L'viv is also a UNESCO creative city for literature, and will soon host a UNESCO cultural centre which will be a national hub for Ukrainian artists.
Since the beginning of the war, UNESCO has verified damages to more than 260 Ukrainian cultural properties.
