Art and culture, along with language and history, are battlegrounds in Russia’s war in Ukraine. Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s towns and cities not only cost lives and livelihoods but destroy museums, libraries and sites of enormous historical and cultural significance.
And this destruction is not simply an accidental by-product of war. The United Nations has accused Russia of deliberately targeting Ukrainian culture.
The physical destruction of Ukraine’s cultural past and present is accompanied by claims from Vladimir Putin that Ukraine is not a real country and does not have a distinct language, history and culture separate from Russia.
