Cultural disinheritance. The damage to Odesa’s Fine Arts Museum is just the latest example of the cultural devastation being wrought by the war in Ukraine

Russian troops have been regularly attacking not only military targets, but also civilian ones such as museums, monuments, and churches.

Russian troops have been regularly attacking not only military targets, but also civilian ones such as museums, monuments, and churches. Drawing up an authoritative list of Ukraine’s most culturally significant architectural losses is hard, says Zaporizhia-based historian Pavlo Kravchuk, pointing out that such evaluations are inevitably subjective.

For now it’s also impossible to calculate how much the destruction has cost Ukraine financially, says Zaporizhia-based historian Pavlo Kravchuk says. The greatest loss to consider though is the intangible cultural value of the damaged buildings.