Robbery of museums, export of exhibits, destruction of monuments of history. As the Russian Federation wants to destroy Ukrainian culture
However, people who have become ideologues of attack on Ukraine are much smarter people. Even if it is a completely evil mind, like Sauron's mind in the famous legendary Ruela Tolkin. These people understand that a strong culture "eats for breakfast" any political strategy, any as much as a strong military car. Yes, the ancient Romans acknowledged that they obeyed the defeated Greeks - their philosophy, poetry, medicine.
A strong culture becomes the foundation on which a strong nation is built, and the next stage is already a strong state. Therefore, evil smart people in Russia, who planned an attack on Ukraine, understood that they tactically they need to break the Ukrainian army, capture Ukrainian cities. But strategically - to destroy Ukrainian culture, language, the very way of thinking. Therefore, this is exactly how the Russians have taken up the first days of aggression.
The list of destroyed cultural values of Ukraine is only necessary to draw up. But now it is clear how large the scale of losses. It is such that on July 15, 2022 it was necessary to hold a separate meeting of the UN Security Council on the topic: "Destruction of cultural heritage as a result of Russian aggression against Ukraine". The meeting was attended by both the UN countries and UNESCO representatives and the International Council of Monuments and Sightseeing Places.
"As of today, the Russians committed 423 crimes against our cultural heritage. They are kissing our inheritance intentionally. Each speaker expressed his vision of war in Ukraine - and it is the only one - Russia tries to destroy our identity. All participants (except the Russian Federation, of course) condemned aggression. Russia against Ukraine, which destroys cultural heritage, our language, literature, steals our museums. It is an attempt to erase all Ukrainian from the land.
But the whole world understands it, and Russia will not succeed. International organizations should increase pressure on Russia to stop this terrorism Against the Ukrainian nation. Only together will we be able to stop the aggressor, " - said Oleksandr Tkachenko, Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.
At that time - as a result of less than four months of war - 128 of fixed cultural heritage, which have the official status of monuments, was damaged or destroyed; 147 cult buildings (50 of them are registered as monuments of history, architecture and urban planning or valuable historical structures); 136 belong to Christian communities (125 - Orthodox, 10 - Protestants, 2 - Catholics), 4 - Islamic, 6 - Jewish communities.
46 memorial monuments in honor of historical figures and events of the nineteenth - early 21st centuries, 33 museums and reserves, 59 cultural centers, theaters and cinemas, 40 libraries. According to the Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Kateryna Chueva, "Russians purposefully destroy cultural heritage objects throughout Ukraine - from Luhansk region to Lviv region.
The cultural heritage of the whole country, both material and intangible, is now under blow And it must be protected for all humanity. " She stressed that all these damage and destruction - the results of rocket strikes, bombardment and artillery shelling, which are recorded in 15 regions of Ukraine. Geographically, this covers almost the entire territory of the country from Lugansk and Donetsk regions in the east to Lviv region near the border with Poland in the west.
And according to Postcards from Ukraine, which launched the Ukrainian Institute together with USAID, the largest cultural sites were damaged in the territory of nine regions: 2 facilities were destroyed in Crimea. In Zaporizhzhya region - 13. In Kharkiv - 96. In Lugansk - 32. In Donetsk - 90. In Chernihiv - 38. In Kiev - 78. In Sumy - 28. In Zhytomyr - 6. The cities in which the Russians came were practically lost Ukrainian Cultural Heritage.
According to the Verkhovna Rada of Human Rights Lyudmila Denisova at the time, in Mariupol the invaders fired at the creative Mecca of the city - the Palace of Culture "Youth", located in the 19th Century Historical building. Before that, on March 16, the Air Force was completely destroyed by the Drama Theater in Mariupol, which is a monument of architecture, history and monumental art. In both cases, there were peaceful people who were hiding there from death.
A separate topic is released by Kherson: the scale of the robbery of the Ukrainian cultural heritage became obvious there. From the end of October, the Russian occupation administration removed monuments from Kherson to historical figures of the Russian Empire, exhibitions and funds of city museums and even the remains of one of the founders of the city - Prince Grigory Potemkin.
After the release of Kherson, investigators and prosecutors investigate the crimes of Russians and collaborators, including the looting of museums. The two largest museums of Kherson - local lore and artistic - are located opposite each other three quarters from the river station. Both of them were robbed by the Russians before retreat. For example, there are virtually no exhibits left in the museum in a hall dedicated to the history of Cimmerians, Scythians and Sarmatians.
Under the glass windows there are only tablets with descriptions: bronze axes, axes made of stone and copper, flint sickles. It disappeared, including a complex of Sarmatian jewelry-gold earring, two large carriage beads, a couple of bracelets, clothing fasteners and a massive felibula. Decorations, with a total weight of 300 grams, dates from the first century BC.
(By the way, a collection of Scythian gold also disappeared from the Melitopol Museum - this crime should still be investigated) and the exhibits were exported from Kherson's art museum from October 30 to November 4. To do this, the Russians used five KAMAZs, as well as several buses for fragile exhibits. In total - 14 thousand exhibits.
According to UNESCO at the beginning of November 2022, at least 213 cultural objects in Ukraine were harmed from February 24: 92 religious houses, 16 museums, 77 historical and/or art houses, 18 monuments and 10 libraries. In addition, Russian invaders are engaged in the export of values from Ukrainian museums and churches, "annex" to "their" foreign monuments of culture.
"UNESCO shows that Russian aggression in Ukraine is deliberately directed against the Ukrainian cultural heritage," the French Foreign Ministry said of November 9. "Our conclusion is all bad, and can continue to be worse," said Crrista Piccat, a UNESCO Director of Culture and Emergency Situations, at a briefing in Geneva.
She emphasized: "Cultural heritage very often becomes" concomitant harm "during wars, but sometimes there is a target for the attack, because it is the essence of the originality of countries. " The deliberate destruction of all Ukrainian has been repeatedly demonstrated during the full -scale war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. And before that, Russian propagandists are not tired of calling.
However, a strong culture - in this case, Ukrainian is not something that can be destroyed by simple military aggression. Fortunately, the Russians do not understand it. The victory of Ukraine will be, in particular, the victory of its culture over the culture of invaders. In the meantime, Russian "liberators" should be reminded that in Art.