The Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine has called on UNESCO to move the 45th session from Kazan, Russia to Lviv and to expel the Russian Federation from the organization, due to the fact that Russia has been systematically violating international humanitarian law and international conventions since 2014.

"A country that started a war and uses its culture as a propaganda tool cannot be a member of UNESCO and influence the decision of the organization. After all, its actions testify that not only does it not share the statutory goals of UNESCO, but is completely opposed to them. Russian cultural figures today become the mouthpieces of crushing Kremlin propaganda and use the language of hatred in their rhetoric. Such a state cannot be given the floor to protect culture," the press service of the ministry said in a statement.

The Russian army has already begun to destroy National Preserve of Tauric Chersonese and damaged the Bakhchisaray Palace of the Crimean Khans – the only example of the Crimean Tatar palace architecture in the world, as well as other cultural and historical monuments in Ukraine.