Russian forces destroy one-third of Kherson Local History Museum
Russian troops, having looted the Kherson Local History Museum, have continued to destroy it, and a third of the building has now been reduced to rubble.
Source: Kherson Local History Museum on Facebook
Details: Museum staff said that Russian forces have been deliberately striking the building for the past three weeks.
Quote: "This unique centre of history and memory of Ukraine's south has suffered extensive damage – a third of the building has been completely destroyed, the roof has been pierced and the walls have been damaged.
What Russia brazenly called 'its cultural heritage' yesterday, today it is mercilessly erasing from the face of the earth – deliberately, systematically and methodically."
More details: The museum has urged the international community to do everything possible to prevent the destruction of historical sites in Kherson.
When retreating from Kherson in October 2022, Russian troops looted the region's two largest museums – the Local History Museum and the Art Museum. Overall, the occupying forces stole at least 20,000 exhibits.
From the Local History Museum, they took items that are highly valued on the black market for archaeology and among private collectors – rare archaeological artefacts from antiquity, weapons and coins, as well as Sarmatian jewellery, medals and orders from the Soviet and Russian imperial periods, 18th-19th-century antique furniture, icons and paintings.
Part of the collection stolen by Russian troops from the Kherson Local History Museum was taken to occupied Henichesk in Kherson Oblast.
Before the occupation, the museum held more than 180,000 exhibits. Among the most valuable stolen items were the Golden Room with Scythian gold and silver, the lapidarium containing samples of ancient writing, and the weapons collection established by the museum's founder, archaeologist Viktor Gashkevych.
At the end of October 2022, the museum's then-director, Tetiana Bratchenko, was charged with treason. According to the website of Ukraine's Office of the Prosecutor General, she was suspected of voluntarily organising and conducting political events, participating in Russian media activities and cooperating with the local Moscow-backed occupation administration.
In May 2025, the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine upheld a claim by Ukraine's Ministry of Justice to impose sanctions on Bratchenko, who, according to Kherson residents, had literally handed over museum valuables to the Russian occupying forces.
However, museum staff have disagreed with the accusations and sanctions, noting that before leaving for Russian territory, Bratchenko had ordered the most valuable items to be removed from display cases and placed in the museum's storage facilities.
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