The Kherson Regional Art Museum in Ukraine is the latest casualty in Russia’s ongoing war with the country. A Russian strike last Thursday set off a fire at the institution, Reuters reports.
The State Emergency Service of Ukraine said that there were no casualties, but the museum’s building and artwork took a big hit as firefighters tried to put out the fire. According to a report by United24, the Ukrainian government–run platform, the fire destroyed the museum’s historic plasterwork, parquet flooring, furniture, and books, as well as the building’s electrical and heating infrastructure.
The State Emergency Service of Ukraine and Kherson Regional Art Museum did not immediately reply to a request further comment on the current state of the museum.
The Kherson Art Museum has suffered greatly at the hands of the current war. During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the museum was looted by Russian troops, taking more than 15,000 works of art and moving them into the Central Museum of Taurida in Simferopol, a city on the Crimean Peninsula that’s controlled by Russia.
The drone strikes that damaged the museum were aimed at Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, where Russia launched 214 aerial targets, 186 of which were stopped by Ukrainian air defenses; 13 casualties were reported along with serious damage to a children’s hospital, food warehouses, and Red Cross facilities.
Since the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine, many museums and cultural sites have been destructed. Earlier this month, a Ukranian church in the city of Beryslav was reduced to ashes by a Russian drone. The church was built in 1726 and is one of the few wooden Cossack architecture from that era.
