Editor's note: This story is based on the Kyiv Independent's investigative documentary, "Curated Theft" – watch it in English here, for free. As Ukraine's liberating forces advanced in the fall of 2022, several trucks stopped near the rear yard of the Kherson Local History Museum. Inside the building itself, dozens of
Fleeing a Ukrainian counteroffensive, Russian forces collectively stole more than 33,000 historical artifacts and works of art. This museum theft is the largest in Europe since World War II.
I first visited the looted museums of Kherson, a city in southern Ukraine, in May 2024. At the time, my team at the Kyiv Independent’s War Crimes Investigations Unit and I were beginning an investigation into the illegal export of artifacts from Kherson to occupied Crimea by Russian forces
Among the Russian camps for Ukrainian prisoners of war, the most notorious one is Olenivka, in Russian-occupied Donetsk Oblast. This prison-turned-camp became infamous due to reports of abuse and torture inflicted upon its prisoners. Who runs this prison?
