Destruction of Museum Heritage by the Russian Aggressor in 2022: Based on Media Reports ; Знищення музейної спадщини російським агресором у 2022 році: за матеріалами мас-медіа

One of the means of russia's war against Ukraine is cultural and religious monuments destruction. Museum heritage belongs to the material cultural heritage of the Ukrainian people. The article examines the facts of the destruction and looting of museum institutions in 2022 since the beginning of full-scale russian aggression. The article describes the state of some museums in Ukraine in the war zones. In the course of researching the topic, an attempt was made to solve the following tasks: to highlight the most resonant examples of damage and destruction of museum heritage objects by the russian occupiers during the specified period; to analyse these examples through the prism of statistics, scientific articles, and journalistic assessments; to consider the public outcry that arose in connection with the facts of destruction and looting of museums in the combat zones. The research methods used are historical, descriptive, content analysis, comparative analysis, statistical, etc. The search for empirical material was based on the reports of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine on targeted attacks on the cultural heritage of Ukraine by the russian aggressor. Since the topic of media coverage of these facts is quite broad, we have selected publications primarily from some foreign media (two of them related to the first months of the war and one to the 10th month of the war), which show the glaring facts of destruction and looting of unique museums. An article by Forbes, one of the most authoritative economic magazines in the world, and a piece by the oldest news agency in the world, Associated Press (USA), were highlighted in the documentary “Art Stolen by russians: Stories of Museum Workers and Scenarios for Return” on UA: Suspilne. It is the large audience of these media outlets that respond to the statistics and overview of destroyed and looted museums in Ukraine during the war. Even the Polish version of the "glossy" American magazine Vogue published a review article about the destruction ...