UN satellite analysis tracks Ukraine cultural damage
The United Nations is using before-and-after satellite imagery to monitor the cultural destruction inflicted by Russia's war in Ukraine, announcing Wednesday it will launch its tracking platform publicly within weeks.
The UN's culture agency UNESCO said it had verified damage to 207 cultural sites in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on February 24.
They include 88 religious sites, 15 museums, 76 buildings of historical and or artistic interest, 18 monuments and 10 libraries.
The worst-affected regions are in eastern Ukraine and around the capital, with Donetsk region having 59 verified damaged cultural sites, followed by Kharkiv with 51, Kyiv with 30 and Luhansk with 25.
"Our conclusion is it's bad, and it may continue to get even worse," UNESCO's cultural and emergencies director Krista Pikkat told reporters at a briefing in Geneva.
"Cultural heritage is very often collateral damage during wars but sometimes it's specifically targeted as it's the essence of the identity of countries."
- Hi-res imagery -
UNESCO -- the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization -- has joined forces with the UN Satellite Centre UNOSAT to produce the platform.
Based on reports from the field, UNESCO sends a list of potentially damaged sites to UNOSAT. It then asks for satellite images from commercial suppliers.
UNESCO pays for the very high resolution images bought from Maxar and Airbus, costing around 10 euros ($10) per square kilometre.
A small team of UNOSAT experts study the difference in before-and-after pictures.
"We conduct daily analysis on Ukraine using satellite images in order to have a better understanding of the situation on the ground," Manuel Fiol, the senior imagery analyst, told AFP.
The team
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