On May 27th, The Guardian published an article by Charlotte Mullins with the lede: ‘Ukraine’s heritage is under direct attack’: why Russia is looting the country’s museums. In it, the author decries the destruction of Ukraine’s cultural property and describes well-known cases of the removal of museum collections. Ms. Mullins compares these Russian crimes to… Continue reading May 28 — Why fact-checking matters in wartime
Month: May 2022
May 23 — The subtle — and not-so-subtle — sacking of Kherson
On May 17th, the Main Intelligence Department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine published an intriguing press release. It didn’t attract much attention, either from the Ukrainian or international press, perhaps because it provided confirmation of something widely suspected: the Russian occupiers are conducting an organized operation to loot art in the Kherson region.… Continue reading May 23 — The subtle — and not-so-subtle — sacking of Kherson
May 13 — De-Nazifying the Scythians
On April 10th, I wrote about the danger to the museums and monuments of the city of Izyme. Unfortunately, the worst of my grave predictions has come true. One of the town’s landmarks is the collection of kurgan stelae on Mount Kremyanets. These six-thousand-year-old figures are known locally as the “stone women” or “Scythian women.”… Continue reading May 13 — De-Nazifying the Scythians
May 12 — May the Jews rest in peace?
The destruction of the Jewish heritage of Ukraine is ongoing. On May 8th, Russian missiles struck the old Jewish cemetery in the ancient city of Hlukhiv, once the capital of the Cossack Hetmanate. Hlukhiv is located in the Sumy region. The cemetery is more than three hundred years old. It is one of a few… Continue reading May 12 — May the Jews rest in peace?
May 11 — The fog of war. What really happened in Mariupol, Melitopol, and at the Hryhorii Skovoroda Literary Memorial Museum?
Over the past few weeks, the Russian campaign has focused on the Donbas region and the southern parts of Ukraine. The bombardment of Kharkiv continues; however, it seems that the aggressors’ target of choice has shifted from the city center to densely populated districts in the outskirts. The names Mariupol, Melitopol, and Kherson have become… Continue reading May 11 — The fog of war. What really happened in Mariupol, Melitopol, and at the Hryhorii Skovoroda Literary Memorial Museum?