In 2008, Ukraine ratified Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, which was adopted by UNESCO Member States in 2003.

The “intangible cultural heritage” means the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces associated therewith – that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage. This intangible cultural heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history, and provides them with a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity. For the purposes of this Convention, consideration will be given solely to such intangible cultural heritage as is compatible with existing international human rights instruments, as well as with the requirements of mutual respect among communities, groups and individuals, and of sustainable development.

Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity includes the following elements of Ukrainian culture:

• Petrykivka decorative painting as a phenomenon of Ukrainian ornamental folk art (2013)
• Tradition of Kosiv painted ceramics (2019)
• Ornek, a Crimean Tatar ornament and knowledge about it (2021)

List of intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding includes:

• Cossack songs of Dnipropetrovsk region (2016)
• Сulture of Ukrainian borscht cooking (2022)