In a dimly lit hall of Kyiv’s National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide, four workers carefully lifted protective glass cases off robes, icons, books, and metal agricultural tools. These items serve as poignant reminders of the millions who perished in the 1932-33 man-made famine under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin—an event widely recognized in Ukraine and internationally as genocide. However, with Russia intensifying its assaults on Ukrainian cultural and historical landmarks, the museum has become one of many institutions bracing for potential attack, now packing and relocating its collections.
Russia’s Escalating Attacks on Cultural Sites
“As the experience of recent weeks has shown, Russia is deliberately striking sites connected to cultural heritage and cultural institutions,” Olga Melnyk, the museum’s deputy general director, told AFP. Most of the items being moved to “safer locations” are family heirlooms from famine victims, passed down through generations—often at great personal risk during the Soviet era, Melnyk explained. Ukraine reports that nearly 2,000 cultural heritage sites and 2,500 cultural institutions have been damaged since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022.
Recent Strikes on Heritage Landmarks
In June, Russian drones struck the Pechersk Lavra, a UNESCO-protected 11th-century monastery in Kyiv, setting the roof of its central Dormition Cathedral ablaze. The Kharkiv Art Museum—housing one of Ukraine’s oldest collections—a major gallery in Dnipro, and film studios in Kyiv were also hit. Earlier this year, a brazen daytime drone strike targeted the historic center of Lviv in western Ukraine.
Protecting Cultural Identity
When Russia invaded in 2022, Ukraine rushed to board up and protect museums, artworks, monuments, and statues. As troops advanced in the east and south, larger pieces were dismantled and shipped across the country. This year, Ukraine’s entry to the Venice Biennale was an “Origami Deer” statue rescued from Pokrovsk, a city now destroyed and occupied by Russia. Recent attacks have triggered a new wave of evacuations. “Many museums currently no longer display their permanent exhibitions and instead present temporary exhibitions,” Deputy Culture Minister Ivan Verbytsky told AFP. His department is auditing potential storage facilities nationwide.
Russia’s Denial and Ukraine’s Response
Russia denies specifically targeting cultural sites, blaming the Kyiv cathedral strike on a misfiring US-made air defense missile operated by Ukraine. However, Verbytsky argues that years of statements from Russian officials questioning Ukraine’s right to exist as an independent state prove the attacks are “deliberate.” “Their purpose is to destroy our heritage and eliminate the material evidence of Ukraine’s thousand-year history and of our distinct, authentic culture,” he said. Speaking from the Holodomor museum’s hilltop concourse overlooking the Dnipro River, Melnyk pointed to Russia’s stated position as grounds for extra caution. Russian President Vladimir Putin vehemently rejects that the famine was a genocide against Ukrainians. “Given that the Holodomor is a particularly sensitive issue for Russia, and that Russia has built many of its narratives around denying the Holodomor as an act of genocide, we cannot rule out the possibility that our museum could become the target of a Russian attack in the near future,” Melnyk said. Behind her stood an iconic statue of a little girl with braided hair clutching ears of grain, her face etched in pain—for now, remaining in place.
