Russia has stolen more than 1.7 million pieces of Ukrainian cultural heritage since its full-scale invasion began, according to the Ukrainian Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications Mykola Tochytskyi.
In an interview with Ukrinform, Tochytskyi said he spoke to European Union culture ministers, including representatives of Norway, Iceland, and the United Kingdom, during an informal meeting in Warsaw (April 7-8), about artworks and artifacts looted from Ukraine and sold on the black market. He thanked his colleagues for their aid against such threats to Ukrainian art and culture but stressed that more efforts were needed to end the trafficking scheme that has emerged more than three years into the invasion.
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“Each [Ukrainian] understands that Russia is not only targeting territory and not only killing peaceful people. It is consistently and purposefully destroying Ukraine’s cultural heritage,” Tochytskyi told Ukrinform. “One million seven hundred thousand items of our cultural heritage were stolen in the occupied territories: from archaeological finds to museum collections, which the Russian Federation appropriated for itself, violating all possible norms of international law.”
As of April 15, UNESCO has verified damage to 485 cultural properties — including 149 religious sites, 33 museums, and two archaeological sites—and has “reliably documented more than 1,200 damaged heritage sites and cultural infrastructure” across Ukraine. Russia has been accused by Ukraine of deliberately targeting Ukrainian heritage, an act that would violate the 1954 Hague Convention which helped establish international war crimes.
Ukraine has in recent weeks strengthened its political ties to allies in Western Europe, as its long-time ally, the United States, realigns its diplomacy with Russia. In a February visit to Saudi Arabia, President Trump attempted to fast-track a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, in a meeting that excluded officials from Kyiv and other relevant European leaders. Russia launched a major drone strike on Ukraine that month, on the eve of the invasion’s three-year anniversary.
It’s unclear how the US’s attempts to negotiate a peace settlement without Ukraine could affect the country’s missing art and whether it is returned at all.
Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of brazenly exhibiting looted art in museums held in Russian territory: In April of 2024, the Kherson Art Museum identified 100 works allegedly looted from its collection by Russian forces in a “propaganda video” shot in a Crimea’s Central Museum of Tavrida. The video was reportedly aired on Russian television in September of 2023.
“Thanks to cooperation with colleagues from different countries, we are gradually returning these values,” Tochytskyi said. “In particular, on several occasions during foreign visits – both by heads of state and mine—foreign competent authorities have handed over to us seized artifacts that were stolen in the occupied territories and taken abroad for sale on the black market.”