Over 10,000 items stolen from Kherson art museum by Russian-backed authorities in 2022, two suspects named
It has emerged that representatives of the Russian-appointed "cultural administration" organised a large-scale looting of the Oleksii Shovkunenko Kherson Regional Art Museum during the temporary occupation of the city of Kherson. In a matter of days, more than 10,223 exhibits were illegally removed, including ancient icons, unique collections and works by Ukrainian and European artists.
Source: Office of Ukraine's Prosecutor General
Details: The theft took place from 31 October to 4 November 2022. Stolen works include pieces by Ivan Aivazovsky, Oleksii Shovkunenko, August von Bayer, Frans Vervloet, Peter Lely, Mykhailo Andriienko-Nechytailo, and others. Ukrainian investigators later documented that the exhibits were transferred to the Central Museum of Tavrida in Simferopol, a city in Crimea temporarily under Russian control.
In January 2026, prosecutors from the Office of Ukraine's Prosecutor General served notices of suspicion on two individuals: Nataliia Desiatova, the Russian-appointed director of the museum, and Artem Lahoiskyi, the so-called "first deputy minister of culture of Kherson Oblast". Investigators found that they had granted Russian troops access to the collections and coordinated the selection, packing and transport of the exhibits.
Desiatova and Lahoiskyi are suspected of committing violations of the laws and customs of war by a group of persons acting by prior conspiracy (Articles 28.2 and 438.1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
Law enforcement officers continue to identify other individuals involved and are taking procedural steps to add the suspects to a wanted list.
About the suspects
Artem Lahoiskyi is described by prosecutors as a collaborator who, in 2022, held the post of acting first deputy "minister of culture of Kherson Oblast" in the Russian-appointed sham administration. He took part in pro-Russian events and appeared in videos featuring stolen museum exhibits. In 2025, he was sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison with confiscation of property and a 15-year ban on working in the public sector.
Nataliia Desiatova was appointed by the Russian occupying authorities as "director of the Kherson Art Museum" in 2022. She took part in propaganda events and, as investigation has established, assisted in moving museum exhibits to Russian-occupied Crimea. She is under sanctions imposed by the United States, Canada, the EU, the United Kingdom and other countries.
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