The Chernobyl Museum in Kyiv, recently renovated for the 40th anniversary of the disaster, was devastated by a missile strike shortly after reopening. Guardian chief culture writer Charlotte Higgins tells Annie Kelly that this destruction is part of a broader, systematic assault on Ukraine's cultural heritage, including historic landmarks, religious sites, and archives.
This matters because the attack on Ukraine's art and heritage is not collateral damage but a deliberate strategy to erase Ukrainian identity. The loss of sites like the Chernobyl Museum represents an ongoing cultural genocide that threatens the nation's historical memory and artistic legacy, making the fight to preserve art a crucial front in the war.