Russian troops looted Kherson museums and stole up to 15 thousand art and historical pieces

In the second week of November, Russian forces were forced to leave the right bank of the Dnipro river in the Kherson region and the city of Kherson. While preparing for this retreat, they did not just relocate ammunition and troops – they had also been stealing from local museums.

“From October 31 to November 3, art pieces and office equipment were loaded into trucks and taken from museums to occupied Crimea. Historical objects were transported improperly, simply wrapped in rags,” said Tamila Tasheva, Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

Nearly 80% of the collection of Oleksiy Shovkunenko Kherson Art Museum was stolen. This includes religious paintings of the 17th and early 20th centuries, Ukrainian art of the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries, and works of contemporary artists.

The most valuable pieces, including archaeological assets and historical weapons, were also taken from the Kherson Regional History Museum.

The police opened an investigation into the theft of valuables from the museums in Kherson by the Russian military.