Russian drone attack on Lviv on January 1 destroys Roman Shukhevych Museum

On the night of December 31-January 1, the Russian military attacked Lviv with drones, destroying the museum of Roman Shukhevych, the general of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. Only a wall and bricks remained of the building.

The press service of the Lviv Historical Museum reported that Roman Shukhevych’s memorabilia were lost as a result of the shelling: a table, chairs, a fotule, a piano, etc. Some items were found among the rubble, such as a bust of Roman Shukhevych. The museum staff hid more than 600 exhibits in advance.

According to Petro Slobodian, Deputy Director for Museum Development, the museum building is beyond repair. The shelling of the museum has caused 2 million in damage, based on preliminary estimates, for the destroyed building alone, and the cost of lost exhibits has not yet been calculated.

The building in which the museum was located has historical value – it was Roman Shukhevych’s safe house. Shukhevych led the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, a military formation of the Ukrainian liberation movement that fought to restore Ukrainian statehood. More than half a million people were repressed by the USSR’s punitive authorities for participating in or supporting the insurgency.

On March 5, 1950, the NKVD (People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR – one of the repressive bodies of the Soviet Union) encircled Shukhevych in this very house, and after a gunfight, the commander shot himself in the temple in order not to surrender.

In total, more than half a million people were repressed by the USSR’s punitive authorities for participating in or supporting the insurgency.

Lviv Mayor Andriі Sadovyi assured that the museum would be restored after Ukraine’s victory. “The museum will be larger and there will be a part dedicated to our current struggle.”