The Lesia Ukrainka Museum in Yalta, located in occupied Crimea, has been effectively erased.
Lesia Ukrainka was a notable Ukrainian writer, poet, and activist for Ukrainian freedom, independence, and identity.
The building where the museum once stood now displays a plaque from Soviet times mentioning Lesia Ukrainka, but all other references to her have been removed by Russian authorities.
The museum has been repurposed under a new name, the Yalta Historical and Literary Museum, with exhibitions focusing on Yalta's history, music, and literature, as well as architect Nikolai Krasnov.
The fate of the original exhibits dedicated to Lesia Ukrainka is uncertain, with concerns that they may have been archived, relocated, or possibly destroyed.
This is part of a broader trend of Russian authorities destroying or repurposing cultural institutions in Crimea and Ukraine as a whole.
Dmitry Rogozin, a Russian official heading the Russian occupation of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, said on June 27 that it is "time to burn everything Ukrainian down to the root" so that "there is no trace left."
Daria Svitlyk
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