Historical and Cultural Heritage Objects of Ukraine in the Conditions of War: Urbicide and Its Consequences

Abstract

The purpose of the article was to generalize the consequences of military urbicide for objects of historical and cultural heritage of Ukraine by region and to solve such tasks as the analysis of conceptual approaches to the study of the impact of military urbicide on the historical and cultural heritage of the regions of Ukraine. The analysis of the current situation was motivated by the direct or indirect destructive consequences for objects of cultural and historical heritage, the loss of their identity by cities. The article examines the concept of urbicide as a specific violent policy against cities that has been taking place over the last year, since the beginning of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war. February 24, 2022 was the beginning of mass military urbicide in Ukraine. The occupation of cities and long-term military actions caused a powerful and multidimensional impact on all processes of the life of the civilian population, communication opportunities, led to numerous victims and the destruction of entire settlements, residential areas, and individual buildings. The regional features of recorded crimes on the territory of Ukraine regarding the historical and cultural heritage were studied. It was found that during the year of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, 569 objects of cultural heritage were destroyed and damaged. The largest number of such cases is characteristic of Donetsk, Kharkiv and Kyiv regions. A number of museums were destroyed and damaged, the collections of some were destroyed, looted, and taken to the territory not controlled by Ukraine. 170 monuments of national and local importance, 146 objects of valuable historical buildings and cultural heritage, as well as 58 memorial monuments and works of art were destroyed and damaged.