Kyiv’s St Sophia Cathedral, Lviv center may join UNESCO’s list of World Heritage sites in danger

Kyiv’s Saint Sophia Cathedral and the historical centre of Lviv city should be put on UNESCO’s list of World Heritage sites in danger.

This was stated by Head of the World Heritage programme Lazare Eloundou, Ukrinform reports with reference to The Guardian.

It is noted that the two sites are threatened with destruction due to the Russian military invasion.

“These sites are threatened with destruction. There have been attacks on the buffer zones around these sites and we don’t know what will happen in the future,” said Lazare Eloundou.

According to him, the World Heritage Committee, set to meet from September 10-25 in Riyadh, will “likely” make the decision “based on experts’ opinion” that the sites are “demonstrably in danger.”

The center of Ukrainian port city Odesa is already on the list of endangered World Heritage sites, and several of its buildings were destroyed in late July in what UNESCO described at the time as a “brazen” attack.

Another historic building came under a missile attack in Lviv in early July, with the UN body saying it was the first strike on an area protected by the World Heritage Convention and the first “violation” by Russia of the text since its invasion.