UNESCO will provide support to Ukraine in the preservation of cultural heritage and calls on Russia to refrain from destroying and seizing valuables, Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko has said.

According to the minister, the corresponding declaration on the protection of the cultural heritage of Ukraine was adopted on Friday at the second extraordinary meeting of the UNESCO Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.

In particular, the declaration called on Russia to: comply with its obligations under the 1954 Hague Convention and ratify its Second Protocol; stop any form of robbery, misappropriation and vandalism directed against cultural property, as well as refrain from requisitioning moving cultural property located in Ukraine.

In addition, the declaration: encourages Ukraine, in close coordination with UNESCO, to designate key cultural heritage sites with the protective emblem of the 1954 Hague Convention as soon as possible; invites all Member States, UNESCO and relevant expert organizations on cultural heritage to provide Ukraine, at its request, with any support or advice for the protection and preservation of its cultural heritage.

Also, the UNESCO Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict decided to provide Ukraine with urgent support, in particular financial support, and announced its readiness to grant the status of enhanced protection to key cultural heritage sites in accordance with the provisions of the 1954 Hague Convention.

"Together with our colleagues, the EU ministers of culture, we appeal to UNESCO to cancel the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee in Kazan [Russia] and transfer it to Lviv," Tkachenko said.

In addition, he stressed that Ukraine continues to insist that UNESCO should deprive Russia of the status of a UNESCO member.