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Russian missiles damage two national museums in Kyiv
Ukraine’s culture minister says more than 40 museums have been looted since war began
Missile strikes by Russia this week have damaged two of Kyiv’s national museums, according to Ukraine’s culture minister Oleksander Tkachenko.
In a Facebook post, Tkachenko said mass shelling had hit the centre of Kyiv, damaging a number of cultural and educational institutions including the Taras Shevchenko Museum and the Khanenko Museum. At least 11 people are believed to have been killed in the latest round of strikes.
Ukraine’s cultural heritage has been a deliberate target throughout the war as Russia aims to erase or assimilate the country’s cultural identity, with destruction and pillaging of cultural and historical sites taking place on an industrial scale.
Russian forces have allegedly looted the collections of almost 40 Ukrainian museums since the invasion began in February. In an interview with the Associated Press, Tkachenko said “the attitude of Russians toward Ukrainian culture heritage is a war crime”.
Among the artefacts allegedly stolen are the Hun diadem, a rare 1,500-year-old gold tiara dating from the conquest of Attila the Hun, which has vanished from the Museum of Local History in Melitopol. Around 1,700 objects in total are alleged to have been taken from the museum by Russian forces.
Earlier this year, Mariupol’s exiled city council accused Russian forces of looting more than 2,000 items from the city’s museums, including ancient religious icons, a handwritten Torah scroll, a 200-year-old bible and more than 200 medals.
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Meanwhile several dozen Ukrainian museums were commandeered by Russia on September 30 after president Vladimir Putin signed a decree annexing the occupied territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia, following a series of “sham” referenda. The annexation means the territories will be forced to cede possession of thousands of objects in their institutions’ collections to Russia.
To aid cultural rescue efforts, Ukraine's Culture Ministry has reportedly partnered with the US tech giant Uber, which has developed a custom-built version of its app to transport conservationists to areas where they're needed.
Seen in Associated Press, Art Newspaper and ArtForum