Cultural Heritage in a Military Conflict: International Experience of the Second Half of the Twentieth – the Beginning of the Twenty-First Centuries and the Ukrainian Present Time

Abstract

The purpose of the research is to study the threats to the objects of the cultural heritage of Ukraine in the conditions of Russian aggression and possible ways of protection, based on the experience of countries that have survived military conflicts.

The methodology lies in the application of general scientific methods of logic, systematic methods, historicism, comparative analysis, special historical methods (chronology, historiographical analysis, retrospective analysis, historical-systemic, comparative-historical).

Scientific novelty. The reasons for the threats and the motives of the attacks on the objects of the cultural heritage of Ukraine during the Russian aggression are clarified. The experience of countries whose cultural heritage ended up in zones of military conflicts is studied. The transformation of international monument protection law under the influence of military confrontations in various countries of the world as well as the effectiveness of legal mechanisms for the protection of monuments in the context of the war in Ukraine is studied. The directions of activity of the Ukrainian monument protection industry in the conditions of the conflict and the post-war period are outlined.

Conclusions. Ensuring an effective system of protection of cultural heritage is an urgent task in the conditions of Russian aggression. A full-scale invasion, as a continuation of a hybrid war, has turned out to be the biggest challenge for Ukrainian culture during the years of Ukraine’s independence. The protection of cultural heritage objects, as material manifestations of the centuries-old history and spirituality of our people, has become one of the strategic directions in resisting enemy expansion. The effective protection of Ukrainian cultural objects should be based on the experience of countries that faced similar challenges and on modern mechanisms of international law, according to which Ukrainian cultural heritage is an integral part of the world’s cultural heritage. Due to the impossibility of physical access, the protection of monuments in the occupied territories in the conditions of a military conflict is limited to political statements, monitoring the situation, and documenting crimes against cultural objects. The tactics of conducting military operations, taking into account the value of cultural heritage objects, and obtaining basic knowledge on the protection of monuments by the servicemen of the NATO armies, deserve special attention in the context of Ukrainian offensive operations. A much wider range of preventive measures is possible for the protection of monuments in territories not covered by active hostilities. The complex of potential threats requires the Ukrainian monument protection system to focus its efforts both on a quick response to the current situation and on the strategy of post-war reconstruction.