This concerns over a million stolen or destroyed museum objects, as reported by Mariana Tomin, the director of the Department of Cultural Heritage at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, according to Ukrinform.
According to her, the damage inflicted by the Russian Federation extends to over one million museum objects belonging to Ukraine’s museum fund. These objects are effectively the property of the Ukrainian people, so the damage inflicted is immense.
Tomin added that previously, Ukraine had a National Commission for the Search and Return of Cultural Values working in the country. All issues related to accounting, restitution policy, search, scientific research, the value of items, and their return to Ukraine must be addressed at the level of a fully functioning institution, which will be supported by the corresponding law, namely the law on the return of cultural values.
In the fall of 2022, Russian occupiers exported over 10,000 works of art from the Oleksiy Shovkunenko Kherson Art Museum. In addition, Russians completely stole the exhibition from the Kherson Local Lore Museum.
A virtual museum of artworks stolen or destroyed by Russia has been opened in Ukraine.
