Occupiers are exporting cultural artifacts to annexed Crimea and attempting to erase Ukrainian national identity.
Russian invaders have stolen over 170 cultural artifacts from the occupied territories of Ukraine – including from the "Kamyana Mohyla" museum in the Zaporizhzhia region. This was reported by UNN with reference to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
Details
On the War&Sanctions portal, in the "Stolen Heritage" section, data has been published on 178 artifacts stolen by Russians in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
Among them are 140 artifacts that were stolen during illegal archaeological excavations in Crimea – at the sites of the Southern Suburb of Chersonesus Taurica, the Kadykivske settlement (Roman camp), and the Byzantine architectural monument "Church of John the Baptist."
The Russians also removed 37 exhibits from the National Historical and Archaeological Museum "Kamyana Mohyla" to the "Chersonesus Taurica" museum under the guise of a "temporary exhibition" "The Spiritual World of Ancestors in the Petroglyphs of Kamyana Mohyla" in 2023.
By appropriating Ukrainian culture and history, Russia is trying to erase Ukrainian national identity, legitimize aggression and occupation
– stated the Main Intelligence Directorate.
Recall
In the occupied territories of Ukraine, children have begun to be Russified. In older kindergarten groups, "language development" classes have been introduced, where Russian is taught and Ukrainian words are displaced.
