DONETSK, November 6. /TASS/. The evidence that Kiev is targeting Russia’s cultural heritage will be presented to the global community, Denis Yudin, first deputy chairman of the All-Russian Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments (VOOPIK), told reporters.
"A major task <…> is to make this information known to the international community so they can see that the war is being waged not only on the battlefield but also against our culture, against our cultural heritage, and against our memory of identity which they will try to delete, destroy, and do so that we would lose our roots, if you wish. Our task is to counter this," Yudin said, addressing a forum in Donetsk.
Yudin said his Society will work with the Russian Foreign Ministry to share the information with the global community. The collected materials will serve as a basis for the future restoration and preservation of monuments, he explained. According to Yudin, the damage has yet to be assessed, a task which he said would be challenging, as safe access to all the monuments is not currently possible.
Earlier, Yudin said that VOOPIK has recorded over 400 destroyed or damaged cultural heritage sites across 16 Russian regions, with some of those being completely razed.
The two-day forum titled "Land of Memory" in Donetsk discussed compiling a White Book of monuments in Donbass and Novorossiya.