Rada appeals to UNESCO to exclude Russia from organization
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine voted to appeal to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the parliaments and governments of its member states about the need to deprive the aggressor state of Russia of membership in the organization. Oleksii Honcharenko, a member of the Verkhovna Rada and a member of the Ukrainian delegation to the PACE, announced this on his Telegram channel on Friday, July 28.
296 MPs voted for the Verkhovna Rada's appeal to UNESCO, the parliaments and governments of its member states to revoke the membership of the Russian Federation. The Parliament adopted an appeal regarding further deprivation of the membership of the Russian Federation in UNESCO and its bodies. Ukraine also urged to urgently send a mission to assess the damage caused by Russian attacks on World Heritage sites in Lviv and Odesa, determine assistance and possible actions of UNESCO to protect cultural heritage sites in Ukraine from Russian aggression, Honcharenko noted.
The Verkhovna Rada also appealed to the parliaments and governments of foreign countries to take all possible measures to investigate Russian crimes, bring to justice and justly punish all those guilty of them within the framework of national and international jurisdictions.
"After what Russia is doing on our territory, after the destruction of monuments in various regions of Ukraine, after the attack on the historic center of Odessa, they have no right to be in this organization," Honcharenko emphasized.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on the night of July 20, the Russian occupiers launched a massive shelling of the Odesa Region and Odesa itself.
As a result of the shelling, the destruction of the port infrastructure, residential buildings and cars was recorded, and the Savior and Transfiguration Cathedral was mutilated.
On July 23, Russian shelling damaged at least 25 architectural monuments in Odesa, as the historic center of the city is included in the UNESCO list.