UNESCO designates Ukraine's Odesa a World Heritage in Danger site

Russia, which invaded Ukraine 11 months ago, denounced the designation, saying the only threat to Odesa came from the ‘nationalist regime in Ukraine’

The United Nations' cultural agency, UNESCO, said on Wednesday that it had designated the historic centre of Odesa, a strategic port city on Ukraine's Black Sea coast, a World Heritage in Danger site.

Russia, which invaded Ukraine 11 months ago, denounced the designation, saying the only threat to Odesa came from the "nationalist regime in Ukraine".

The status, awarded by a UNESCO panel meeting in Paris, is designed to help protect Odesa's cultural heritage, which has been under threat since Russia's invasion, and enable access to financial and technical international aid.

Odesa has been bombed several times by Russia since its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

In July 2022, part of the large glass roof and windows of Odesa's Museum of Fine Arts, inaugurated in 1899, were destroyed.

In a statement, UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay said that Odesa, "free city, world city, legendary port" had made its mark on cinema, literature and the arts.

"As the war continues, this inscription reflects our collective determination to protect this city from greater destruction," Azoulay said.