PARIS (AP) — The United Nations cultural agency decided Wednesday to add the historic center of the Ukrainian Black Sea port city of Odessa to its list of endangered World Heritage sites.
The decision was made at an extraordinary session of the World Heritage Committee in Paris.
UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay hailed the move, saying the “legendary port that left its mark on cinema, literature and the arts” is “now placed under the strengthened protection of the international community.”
“As the war continues, this inscription shows our collective determination to ensure that this city… is preserved from further destruction,” it added, according to a UNESCO statement.
The city has been the target of artillery attacks and airstrikes by Russian forces on multiple occasions since the start of the war last year.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on UNESCO in October to grant Odessa World Heritage status, and the UN body agreed on Wednesday, adding it directly to the endangered list.
Under the 1972 UNESCO convention, ratified by both Ukraine and Russia, signatories pledge to “assist in the protection of listed sites” and are “obligated to refrain from taking any deliberate action” that could harm World Heritage sites.
Inclusion on the List of World Heritage in Danger aims to “open access to international emergency assistance mechanisms, both technical and financial, to strengthen the protection of the property and assist in its rehabilitation,” according to UNESCO.
Ukraine is home to seven World Heritage sites, including the Saint Sophia Cathedral and related monastic buildings in the capital, Kyiv.
To date, none of the six cultural sites have been damaged by the war; the seventh site is ancient and primeval beech forests, UNESCO said. Some damage has been observed in more than 230 cultural buildings in the country, she added.
On its website, UNESCO describes Odessa as the only city in Ukraine that has fully preserved the urban structure of a typical southern multinational port city of the late 18th and 19th centuries.
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