The UNESCO World Heritage Committee called on the Russian Federation to refrain from any actions that would cause direct or indirect damage to the sites and buffer zone, the cultural heritage of Ukraine as a whole, and the sites included in the Tentative List. This was reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, according to Ukrinform.

The ministry calls this decision a significant victory for the Ukrainian delegation consisting of representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy headed by Anastasia Bondar. According to the ministry, the decision was made during the consideration of the state of preservation of the Ukrainian World Heritage Sites "Kyiv: St. Sophia Cathedral and adjacent monastery buildings, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, Lviv - Historical Center Ensemble" and "Historical Center of Odesa". Following the review and voting, the World Heritage Committee (WHC) also called for the fulfillment of its obligations under international law, including Article 6 of the World Heritage Convention.

"Today's decision of the World Heritage Committee has long-term positive consequences for Ukraine. Firstly, the Committee has finally recorded in its official documents that the Russian Federation is the cause of the threat to Ukraine's cultural heritage sites. We can finally avoid vague wording about "appeals to all parties," said Iryna Borovets, head of the National Commission for UNESCO and Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine. She noted that the WHC'c support of Ukraine sends a clear signal to the aggressor country that the civilized world stands with Ukraine in restoring justice and protecting its cultural heritage. For the first time, the UNESCO Committee strongly condemned Russia's full-scale aggression and the targeted destruction of cultural heritage and Ukrainian identity, the Foreign Ministry emphasized.