OleshkovskySands is one of Ukraine's 49 National Nature Parks/НПП "Олешківські піски"

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization on Thursday expressed great concern over the fate of World Heritage Sites in Ukraine as Russia continued its military invasion of the country.

UNESCO's Director-General, Audrey Azoulay, called for the “protection of Ukrainian cultural heritage, which bears witness to the country’s rich history, and includes its seven World Heritage sites – notably located in Lviv and Kyiv; the cities of Odessa and Kharkiv, members of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network; its national archives, some of which feature in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register; and its sites commemorating the tragedy of the Holocaust.”

“We must safeguard this cultural heritage, as a testimony of the past but also as a vector of peace for the future, which the international community has a duty to protect and preserve for future generations," she added. "It is also to protect the future that educational institutions must be considered sanctuaries.”

Under the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, Russia must "refrain from inflicting damage to cultural property," and Azoulay condemned "all attacks and damage to cultural heritage in all its forms in Ukraine."

In a release, UNESCO officials expressed their grave concern about "the damages incurred by the city of Kharkiv, UNESCO Creative City for Music, and the historic centre of Chernihiv, on Ukraine’s World Heritage Tentative List. UNESCO deeply regrets reports of damage to the works of the celebrated Ukrainian artist, Maria Primachenko, with whose anniversary UNESCO was associated in 2009."

UNESCO authorities were working with Ukrainians "to mark as quickly as possible key historic monuments and sites across Ukraine with the distinctive emblem of the 1954 Hague Convention, an internationally recognized signal for the protection of cultural heritage in the event of armed conflict. In addition, UNESCO has approached the Ukrainian authorities with a view to organizing a meeting with museum directors across the country to help them respond to urgent needs for safeguarding museum collections and cultural property."

There was no news on the status of Ukraine's 49 national nature parks, nor of its eight biosphere reserves (some of which are protected as national parks as well).

Within the country's national park system lie "the largest sand massif in Europe" at Oleshkovsky Sands, which is seen as "a real Ukrainian desert. With oases, sand dunes, snakes and poisonous spiders;" a "Museum of Forest and Rafting, ... the only museum in Europe, where the ancient tools of work of lumberjacks and raftsmen are exhibited" at Synevyr; the oldest protected area in Ukraine at Askaniya-Nova Biosphere Reserve, which was established in the 19th century and protects a stretch of virgin steppe as well as wildlife in its natural habitat; and in Carpathian National Nature Park there are "archaeological sites 15,000 years old, wooden monuments of folk culture and architecture of the XVI-XIX centuries. Among natural objects, the most famous is Rudyak bog with small cranberries and other rare plants. Moreover, the Kedruvate tract is the only place where cedar pine grows."

Carpathian National Nature Park is the largest and oldest national park in Ukraine and the largest protected area in the Carpathian region, according to Global Conservation. "It was established in 1980 and spans 515.7 km2. The park conserves at least 51 mammal species, 110 birds, 12 fish, 10 amphibians, and 6 reptile species. Of these, 76 are listed in the IUCN or Ukrainian Red Data Books of endangered species, including brown bear, wolf, Eurasian otter, Eurasian lynx, and European mink," the organization says.

Ukraine's biosphere reserves:

• Chernomorskiy Biosphere Reserve
• Designated in 1984
• Askaniya - Nova Biosphere Reserve
• Designated in 1985
• Carpathian Biosphere Reserve
• Designated in 1992
• Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve
• Designated in 1998 (Transboundary BR with Romania)
• East Carpathians Biosphere Reserve
• Designated in 1998 (Transboundary BR with Poland and Slovakia)
• West Polesie Transboundary Biosphere Reserve
• Designated in 2002 as Shatskiy Biosphere Reserve (since 2012 part of the Transboundary West Polesie BR with Belarus and Poland)
• Desnianskyi Biosphere Reserve
• Designated in 2009
• Roztochya Biosphere Reserve
• Designated in 2011 (since 2019 Transboundary BR with Roztocze, Poland)