None Of World Heritage Sites In Ukraine Damaged By Special Military Operation - Diplomat

UNITED NATIONS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th July, 2022) The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has confirmed that no world heritage sites have been damaged in Russia's ongoing special military operation in Ukraine, while the Ukrainian military is not able to provide guarantees they don't use cultural property in its operations, Russian mission's diplomat to the world body, Sergey Leonidchenko, said.

"UNESCO confirmed that none of the World Heritage Sites in Ukraine were damaged during the Russian special military operation... the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense that refuses to provide UNESCO with written guarantees that such cultural property or its immediate surroundings will not be used and supported the military effort," Leonidchenko said during a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine on Friday.

Earlier in the meeting, UNESCO World Heritage Center Director Lazare Eloundou Assomo told the UN Security Council that the organization had dispatched a mission to Kiev from 7 to 10 July to assess the impact of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine on cultural sites.

The meeting was organized by Albania, a member of NATO and close ally of the United States, in a more informal format than the usual debates at the UN Security Council.