UNESCO Reports 42 Archaeological Sites Damaged in Kherson Region

With the support of the Embassy of Japan in Ukraine and UNESCO, in February 2025, representatives of the Amadoka NGO and the Khortytsia National Reserve conducted an expedition to the Kherson region to document the damage to Ukraine's cultural heritage caused by the war.

This was reported by UNESCO Ukraine.

A total of 42 archaeological sites were surveyed (56 over the entire project period), four of which are of national importance.

Many of the mounds, especially those over two meters high, were severely damaged by the fighting.

The nature of the damage includes:

• Mining of heritage sites.
• Construction of various fortifications (trenches, caponiers, observation posts, etc.).
• Craters from the use of various types of weapons.

Mounds - ancient burial monuments - are among the most valuable archaeological sites that have not only historical but also environmental significance for the steppe regions. There are more than 2,200 burial mounds in the Kherson region, most of which belong to ancient nomadic cultures. These majestic structures, built thousands of years ago, are now threatened by the war, according to UNESCO Ukraine.

These cultural heritage sites are of great importance to the history, archeology and ecology of southern Ukraine. It is important to continue monitoring and restoring these sites to preserve them for future generations, UNESCO insists.

Earlier, Intent reported that the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy (MCIP) of Ukraine began negotiations with the Secretariat of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee on the inclusion of the historical and archaeological monument"The Ancient City of TauricChersonesos and its Choir" in the list of World Heritage Sites in Danger.

During the 46th meeting of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in New Delhi, the head of the Ukrainian delegation, Anastasia Bondar, in her speech, updated the issue of the state of conservation of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Tauric Chersonesos and its Chora". After that, negotiations with the Secretariat of the World Heritage Committee began on possible algorithms for inscribing this site on the list of World Heritage in Danger.

Ігор Льов