"The aggressor is destroying our culture, monuments, theaters, libraries, and museums. ... We, however, are proving that even in the darkest times, we remain unbroken," Culture Minister Mykola Tochytskyi said.
The Ukrainian government doesn't plan to stop supporting the telethon, Ukraine's state-run pool of TV channels created during wartime, before the end of the martial law, Interfax Ukraine reported on Oct. 31, citing Culture Minister Mykola Tochytskyi.
The list of damaged sites includes 958 cultural and social clubs, 708 libraries, 153 art schools, 114 museums and galleries, 36 theaters, cinemas, and concert halls, 15 parks, zoos, and nature reserves, and three circuses.
Ukraine's Ministry of Culture removed the formerly-named Peoples' Friendship Arch from the state register of monuments of national importance due to its association with Russia's ambitions for Soviet reunification, indicating that the monument "may be dismantled."
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on April 9 that he ordered relevant ministries to introduce "updated, more fair" rules on exempting employees of "critically important" companies from military service.
Ukraine's Culture Ministry has recognized a number of TV channels, circuses, and other cultural institutions as "critically important" companies during wartime, allowing some of their employees to defer military service, according to decrees published on the ministry's website.
A total of 1,795 cultural institutions have suffered damage at the hands of Russian forces in parts of the country that had been liberated by Ukrainian forces, the country's acting Culture Minister Rostyslav Karandieiev announced on March 29.
Ukraine's government has greenlit a comprehensive program aimed at bolstering the Ukrainian language's role as the state language across all aspects of public life until 2030.
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