Ukraine to request UNESCO cultural protection for Odesa port

Amid the ongoing war with Russia, Ukraine is set to request the UN's cultural watchdog to add the historic port of Odesa to its world heritage list of protected sites, according to Al Jazeera.

The port was struck by missiles just hours after Russia decided to allow a shipment of Ukrainian grain exports. As many as six explosions were heard in Odesa, according to CNN citing Ukrainian member of parliament Oleksiy Goncharenko.

"On July 24, 2022, part of the glass canopy and windows of the Museum of Fine Arts, inaugurated in 1899, were destroyed" by the raids, the UN's cultural agency UNESCO said after its Director-General Audrey Azoulay met Ukraine's Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko in Paris.

Moreover, the UNESCO experts on the ground would provide technical assistance so that Odesa could be urgently added to both the World Heritage list and the list of heritage sites in danger, Al Jazeera reported.

Earlier in July, a deal was reached between Ukraine and Russia where Russia promised to unblock ports on the Black Sea to allow the safe passage of grain and oilseeds, some of Ukraine's most important exports. Russia has so far been blocking maritime access to those ports, meaning that millions of tons of Ukrainian grain have not been exported to the many countries that rely on it.

Meanwhile, a vessel carrying wheat from Ukraine to the drought-stricken Horn of Africa has docked, the United Nations said, the first to make the journey since the Russian invasion six months ago.

The total shipment to be unloaded in Djibouti and transported to Ethiopia is enough to feed 1.5 million people for a month, according to the WFP.

( With inputs from ANI )