A massive Russian missile and drone strike on Kyiv over the weekend of 24 May damaged multiple cultural institutions, including the National Art Museum of Ukraine, the Yaroslav Mudryi National Library of Ukraine, the Kyiv Opera Theatre, and the National Chornobyl Museum. The National Chornobyl Museum suffered the worst damage, with around 40% of its exhibition hall exhibits destroyed. Ukraine's culture ministry reported the hits, and President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the museum. Russia claimed the barrage was retaliation for a Ukrainian strike, while Ukraine stated it hit a drone unit. The attack killed four people and injured approximately 100.
The attack underscores Russia's systematic targeting of Ukrainian cultural heritage as part of its war strategy, with Ukraine's culture minister stating that Russia is trying to destroy Ukrainian identity and memory. The National Chornobyl Museum, which had recently been modernized for the 40th anniversary of the 1986 disaster, held irreplaceable artifacts and art connected to the catastrophe, including works by Maria Prymachenko. The destruction highlights the ongoing threat to Ukraine's cultural infrastructure, with over 1,783 cultural heritage monuments and 2,540 cultural infrastructure objects already damaged or destroyed since the full-scale invasion began.