During a massive strike on Ukraine overnight on March 23–24, Russia launched nearly 1,000 drones and 34 missiles in what the US-based Institute for the Study of War called “the largest Russian strike series against Ukraine of the war thus far.” Several western Ukrainian cities were hit, including Lviv, where the assaults killed several people and injured more than 40.
Lviv’s historic centre, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2023, suffered damage. Governor Maksym Kozytskyi said a drone struck St. Andrew’s Church, part of a former 17th-century Bernardine monastery, destroying several nearby buildings. Many windows were shattered; notably, a stained-glass image of the Madonna with Child survived.
Adjacent to the church is the Central State Historical Archives in Lviv, which holds material from the Bernardine Archive founded in 1784. Anatolii Khromov, head of the archives, said the collection includes some of the oldest documents of Ukrainian history, such as three 12th-century birch-bark manuscripts—important examples of Old Russian. He warned the archive building is dilapidated and any explosion threatens the holdings; inspectors were checking for new cracks. The façade, windows and paintings were damaged, and staff are working to repair the site and protect the collections, including ongoing digitization efforts.
Russian officials and pro-Russian outlets claimed “foreign mercenaries” were sheltering in the archive building; Khromov denied these allegations. The strikes also struck a 19th-century building that once served as a prison and now houses the National Museum-Memorial of Victims of the Occupation Regime. Ukrainian historian and lawmaker Volodymyr Viatrovych noted that almost all the museum’s windows—witnesses to Stalinist-era crimes—were shattered, but insisted the culture of remembrance endures.
Ukraine’s Culture Ministry said it is documenting attacks on cultural heritage and preparing a report for UNESCO. Minister Tetyana Berezhna wrote on Facebook that cultural heritage must not be targeted and that authorities are working with international partners to hold perpetrators accountable.
UNESCO said it was “deeply alarmed” by the strikes, reminding parties that cultural property is protected under the 1954 Hague Convention and the 1972 World Heritage Convention. The agency offered support for assessments, protection measures and emergency assistance.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry announced UNESCO experts will travel to Lviv to document damage. Spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said international partners had condemned the attack but that Ukraine demands concrete measures, including sanctions targeting Russia’s cultural sector and excluding Russian representatives from international cultural events. The Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance has launched a petition calling for Russia to be expelled from UNESCO; director Oleksandr Alfyorov argued Russia should not be allowed to participate in international institutions.
According to Ukraine’s Culture Ministry, since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022, Russia has damaged over 1,700 cultural artifacts and 2,500 cultural infrastructure sites in Ukraine, with 513 of those sites completely destroyed.
This article was originally written in Ukrainian.