Russia caused more than $20 billion in damage to Ukrainian culture — Deputy Prime Minister Berezhna

According to World Bank estimates, russia has inflicted $24 billion in direct and indirect damage on Ukrainian culture. This was stated by Deputy Prime Minister for Humanitarian Policy and Minister of Culture Tetiana Berezhna while speaking to journalists in Lviv during the opening of the "Ukraine in the World" Ukrainian Studies Conference.

Berezhna stressed that "our mission now is to defend every year and every century of our history that we built on Ukrainian soil, as evidenced by our cultural monuments and all the elements of our statehood, which has existed not only since 1991, but much, much earlier".

"This is extremely important. And although we understand that it is too early to talk about this before the war ends, we are already doing our homework. We are documenting all the crimes it is committing against Ukraine's cultural heritage. We are documenting the scale of the damage russia has inflicted on our state. As of today, according to the World Bank, the direct and indirect damage to Ukrainian culture alone amounts to $24 billion", - Berezhna said.

She emphasized that the Ukrainian side will work to ensure that the aggressor compensates for the damage it has caused.