In the Kharkiv region on the night of May 7, the Russian military destroyed the Hryhoriy Skovoroda National Literary Memorial Museum in the village of Skovorodynivka during a shelling. This was reported on Facebook by the village council of Zolochev.

The shell flew under the roof of the building – a fire broke out. According to the head of the Zolochiv community, Viktor Kovalenko, the fire engulfed the entire building.

The 35-year-old son of the museum director was injured, rescuers pulled him out from under the rubble, now the man is in hospital.

The head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration Oleh Synegubov said that the shelling took place at about 11 p.m.

“The most valuable exhibits of the collection were saved, they were moved to a safe place in advance,” he said.

The museum itself reported that the fire was extinguished only at 8 am, burning 280 square meters. They confirm that some of the exhibits were taken out for shelling.

“We will not forgive. Many questions about the collection. Some were evacuated in advance. But the memorial building suffered irreparable losses,” – said there.

The Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office has opened a pre-trial investigation into violations of the laws and customs of war (Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

The Russian Ministry of Defense has acknowledged the shelling of the Skovorodynivka district, but claims that there were some Ukrainian army checkpoints near the village.

“During the night, 18 military facilities of Ukraine were hit by army aircraft, including two checkpoints in the Skovorodnikovo district (that’s what the Russian army called the village of Skovorodynivka ) in the Kharkiv region,” Moscow said.

The museum is located in the village of Skovorodynivka, in the estate of the XVIII century, where he worked for the last years of his life and near which Hryhoriy Skovoroda was buried. This year marks the 300th anniversary of the philosopher’s birth.

“On the eve of the war, restoration work has just been completed, we are preparing the institution for the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the world-famous philosopher.

Adviser to the head of the President’s Office Mikhail Podoliak said that the consequences of the destruction of the museum will be reversed from those planned in Moscow.

Now Skovoroda is known not only in Ukraine but also in the world. Even more people will be interested in the philosophy of the thinker and visit the museum after restoration. You can destroy the boards and bricks, but not the idea. , – he wrote on Twitter .

The destruction of the Skovoroda Museum caused mass outrage on social networks. Ukrainians call for Russia’s exclusion from UNESCO, a UN cultural heritage organization.

“Russian barbarians destroyed the Grigory Skovoroda Museum in the year when UNESCO decides to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the great Ukrainian,” former Deputy Prime Minister for Humanitarian Affairs Mykola Tomenko wrote on Facebook.

“It is appropriate, as I demanded after the destruction of the Russian horde of murderers and barbarians of historical and architectural sites in Chernihiv, to at least exclude Russia from UNESCO. Barbarians of the 21st century have no place in the main International Commission for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments.” , – he emphasizes.

Tomenko also called for holding the 45th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Ukraine.

“The world culturological community must see for itself the consequences of the war of Russian barbarians of the 21st century and support the program of adequate funding for the restoration and restoration of historical and architectural monuments of Ukraine,” he explains.

Former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin also called on Facebook to exclude Russia from UNESCO and compared the actions of the Russian army to the actions of Islamic State militants.

In 2015, ISIS militants destroyed a library in Mosul in Iraq and exhibits in the city museum, statues and ruins of the ancient cities of Nimrud, Hatra, Dur-Sharukkin, in Syria in 2015-2017 destroyed ancient temples and the facade of the Roman amphitheater in Palmyra.

“Tonight, the destruction of the Frying Pan Museum puts Russia on a par with the Islamic State. They also ignored the cultural and spiritual heritage. Both are barbarians from the past. The Russian army is a medieval horde fighting modern weapons,” Klimkin said. .

“They need to be thrown out of UNESCO, they have been thrown out of the Human Rights Council. It is time to throw them out of the organization that deals with culture and heritage. They have no culture, and heritage is being destroyed,” he said.

The destruction of cultural property and heritage may be the subject of an international criminal trial.

In court practice, there is already a case of conviction for crimes against cultural heritage.

One of the Islamists from Mali, Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi, was sentenced in 2016 to 9 years in prison for cultural crimes – the destruction of historical and religious monuments of mausoleums and mosques in the African city of Timbuktu.

This example is interesting for Ukraine in the context of the destruction of historical monuments that occurred during Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

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