Russians stole Scythian gold, paintings by Aivazovsky and other exhibits from the museums of the Zaporizhzhia region

From the Melitopol Stone Tomb, the Melitopol Local History Museum, and the Berdyansk Museum, the Russians took museum exhibits to the territory of the temporarily occupied Crimea.

This was reported by the chairman of the occupied Melitopol of the Zaporizhia region, Ivan Fedorov: “From the Stone Tomb, these are artifacts that were in the museum, from the Melitopol museum – Scythian gold, and from the Berdyansk museum – paintings, originals by Aivazovsky. They were all taken out. And the fact that today they are shown on the territory of the temporarily occupied Crimea, it certainly does not mean that they will stay there for a long time.”

He believes that the Russians will continue to decorate Ukrainian property from the temporarily occupied territories and, in particular, exhibits from museums.

After a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian troops captured part of the Zaporizhzhia region.

Russian troops were unable to capture Zaporizhzhia itself, but it and other settlements in the region are regularly shelled. In April 2023, dozens of Russian shelling and airstrikes were recorded every day in the region.

The Russians decided to make Melitopol the “capital” of the temporarily occupied part of the Zaporizhzhіa region and held a pseudo-referendum there on the “accession” of the region to the Russian Federation.