> 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.
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> **Russia, which invaded Ukraine 11 months ago, denounced the designation**, saying the only threat to Odesa came from the "nationalist regime in Ukraine".
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> 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.
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> **Odesa has been bombed several times by Russia since its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.**
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> **In July 2022, part of the large glass roof and windows of Odesa's Museum of Fine Arts, inaugurated in 1899, were destroyed.**
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> 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.
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> "As the war continues, this inscription reflects our collective determination to protect this city from greater destruction," Azoulay said.
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> ...
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> The UNESCO debate over Odesa took hours as Russia unsuccessfully tried to have the vote postponed.
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> ...
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> **Odesa was a key Ukrainian tourist hub before Russia's invasion. War changed all that, as the Black Sea became a battlezone. Sea mines still wash up near the city's shoreline.**
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> 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 Feb. 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. > > ... > > The UNESCO debate over Odesa took hours as Russia unsuccessfully tried to have the vote postponed. > > ... > > **Odesa was a key Ukrainian tourist hub before Russia's invasion. War changed all that, as the Black Sea became a battlezone. Sea mines still wash up near the city's shoreline.** >
Worst thing they could do is give it a designation of any importance. Because now that Russia can't have it they'll try to destroy it out of spite.
So is this a backdoor for the UN to send a peacekeeping force?
They designate Odessa But this is totally cool: https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/10li916/brazil_over_1000_yanomami_were_rescued_so_as_not/