On February 22, an important event titled “Voices of Heritage: Preserving Culture in Times of War” took place at the Ukrainian Voices RC. The event included a panel discussion and screenings of Ukrainian feature and short films. One of the first speakers was Oksana Dyakun, Deputy Head of the Mission of Ukraine to the EU, who spoke about the immense damage to Ukrainian culture since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
“Russia has damaged or destroyed 2,185 cultural infrastructure sites in Ukraine, as well as 1,333 of its cultural heritage objects. In total, about 7 million cultural assets have been lost, with 1.7 million of them being in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine,” noted Oksana Dіakun.
The moderator of the discussion, Maryna Yaroshevych, Deputy Head of the Council on Foreign Policy “Ukrainian Prism” (Brussels Office) and Director of the European Integration Program, opened the discussion on critical issues related to the preservation of cultural heritage during the war.
Among the esteemed guests of the event were:
• Kateryna Honcharova, PhD, Program Director in Ukraine at the World Monuments Fund, member of the expert group of the European Commission on the protection of Ukraine’s cultural heritage
• Alina Krasnyanska, Executive Producer of the documentary project “Culture vs War”
• Valentina Humennaya, Archivist at the Ukrainian War Archive; Legal Association for Privacy and Data Protection at Axon Partners
• Louis Bodemo, Co-founder of Les Steppes Productions
• Laurent Vogel, PhD, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
• Vadym Adamov, Director and Expert in Aerial Intelligence.
The panel discussion covered key issues on how to document crimes against culture, as well as new approaches and strategies for preserving Ukrainian cultural heritage in the context of war.
We sincerely thank the Mriya International Film Festival and Territory of participation – Територія участі for co-organizing this important event. We also thank everyone who supported this initiative. It is crucial that we continue to speak out and take action – this is how the world will learn more about Ukraine.
