Historic display cases at Kherson local history museum damaged in Russian attack – photos
A Russian FPV drone attack on central Kherson has caused a fire in the utility rooms of the local history museum.
Source: Kherson Local History Museum on Facebook
Details: The museum building was damaged, along with unique historic display cases dating from the early 20th century.
The museum's collections were not damaged, as they had been evacuated to safe locations in advance.
In November 2025, the museum created an exhibition from fragments of shells used by Russian forces to attack the institution.
In October 2025, it was reported that 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.
Kherson Local History Museum
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 Hoshkevych.
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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