Looting and destruction of Ukrainian cultural sites ‘a war crime’

For the moment, Ukraine’s government and its western backers supplying weapons are mostly focused on defeating Russia on the battlefield

A copy of the fourth century BC golden ritual quiver, an ancient treasure from a Scythian king’s burial mound, is exhibited in the Museum of Historical Treasures in Kyiv, Ukraine (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is being accompanied by the destruction and pillaging of historical sites and treasures on an industrial scale, Ukrainian authorities said.

In an interview with the Associated Press (AP), Ukraine’s culture minister Oleksandr Tkachenko alleged that Russian soldiers helped themselves to artefacts in almost 40 Ukrainian museums.