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Ukraine Names Russian Admirals in War Crimes Probe Over Lviv UNESCO Zone Strike
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![Photo of Dariia Mykhailenko]( "Photo of Dariia Mykhailenko")
Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General has named senior commanders of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet as suspects in connection with the missile strike on Lviv and sites within the UNESCO buffer zone on July 6, 2023, an attack that killed nine civilians and damaged historic cultural landmarks.
“Under the procedural guidance of prosecutors from the Office of the Prosecutor General, the commander and the chief of staff of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Navy—an admiral and a vice admiral—have been notified of suspicion, as the investigation established that they organized and planned the attack,” according the the statement published on February 16.
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According to investigators, the strike involved 3M-14 Kalibr sea-launched cruise missiles fired from submarines and surface ships of the Black Sea Fleet that were on combat duty in the Black Sea at the time.
One of the missiles hit a residential neighborhood, killing nine civilians. Residential buildings, vehicles, and other civilian infrastructure sustained extensive damage.
Prosecutors said the attack also impacted Lviv’s historic center, damaging or destroying 17 architectural monuments of local significance located within the buffer zone of a UNESCO World Heritage site.
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The case is being investigated as a violation of the laws and customs of war combined with intentional homicide committed by a group acting in prior conspiracy. Authorities are considering placing the suspects on a wanted list, while investigators continue working to identify other members of Russia’s military and political leadership involved in preparing and issuing the orders.
Officials added that since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, 1,685 cultural heritage sites have been damaged. Sixteen individuals have received notices of suspicion in related proceedings.
More than 100 UNESCO-listed cultural heritage sites have suffered destruction or damage, including 44 in Odesa, 59 in Lviv, and the Hryhorii Skovoroda National Literary and Memorial Museum in the Kharkiv region.
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The scale of destruction to Ukraine’s cultural heritage continued to grow in 2025. According to the Ministry of Culture, 307 cultural heritage sites and 261 cultural infrastructure facilities were either damaged or destroyed over the past year alone.
Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the total number of affected sites has reached 1,640 cultural heritage landmarks and 2,446 cultural infrastructure facilities nationwide. Among the damaged heritage sites, 153 are classified as nationally significant, 1,333 as locally significant, and 154 are newly identified objects. The destruction has been documented in 18 regions of the country.
The Kharkiv region recorded the highest number of damaged heritage sites, with 344 objects affected. It was followed by Kherson region with 297, Odesa region with 182, Donetsk region with 175, and Kyiv region together with the city of Kyiv, which reported a combined 163 sites.
“At the same time, shelling and fighting damaged 2,446 cultural infrastructure facilities, of which 498 were completely destroyed. The heaviest losses to cultural infrastructure were recorded in the Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kyiv, Sumy, and Mykolaiv regions,” the statement read.
The ministry specified that the damaged facilities include 1,193 community and cultural centers, 854 libraries, 188 arts education institutions, 136 museums and galleries, and 50 theaters, cinemas, and philharmonic halls. Parks, zoos, nature reserves, circuses, and a film studio in Kyiv were also among the affected sites.
Earlier, on February 3, Russian shelling struck the Hall of Glory at the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War, situated at the foot of the Motherland Monument in Kyiv, Deputy Prime Minister for Humanitarian Policy and Culture Minister Tetiana Berezhna reported.
Berezhna stated that the building holds the status of a locally protected monument of science and technology. She characterized the attack as symbolic and deeply cynical, emphasizing that the aggressor targeted a site devoted to commemorating resistance to aggression in the 20th century while perpetrating comparable acts in the 21st.
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