Digital Transformation of Cultural Preservation: Protecting Ukraine’s Heritage Under Military Threats

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyse cultural initiatives aimed at preserving Ukraine’s cultural heritage in the context of armed conflict in the period 2022–2025, with a particular focus on projects to digitise cultural objects that are currently under constant threat. The research is based on international legal acts that regulate the protection of cultural heritage in conditions of armed conflict and establish modern mechanisms for digitising cultural heritage. A systematic review method is used, analysing 15 peer-reviewed publications and case studies containing experience in digitising and protecting cultural heritage sites. The results of the study demonstrate the important role of transforming approaches to cultural heritage preservation, taking into account digitisation and the development of 3D models of artefacts (“ICOM4Ukraine”, “Ukraine is Here”, “Memory of the World” and “SKEIRON” projects). In conditions of economic instability, such initiatives are only possible within the framework of international cooperation in the field of compliance with humanitarian law and conventional norms. The study confirms that military actions pose a double threat to cultural heritage: the physical destruction of tangible objects and the systematic destruction of intangible cultural identity lead to the degradation of the cultural space as a whole– the loss of significant monuments, the severing of communication links and the weakening of intercultural exchange.