A Ukrainian family in Kyiv is mourning the loss of treasured cultural items after a Russian airstrike damaged their apartment. Iryna Plekhova, a 42-year-old cultural manager, and her film-director husband had collected the items over decades.
Loss of Cultural Heritage
The family lost around 5,000 old books, an icon her grandmother had kept throughout World War Two, and DVDs of old footage they had planned to submit to the archive. The rosary, given to her family by Pope Francis, was also destroyed in the attack.
The airstrike, one of the worst attacks on Kyiv in more than four years of war, killed 30 people and wrought damage across the Ukrainian capital. Attacks by Russia have frequently damaged Ukrainian landmarks, monuments, and staples of cultural heritage, ranging from museums to churches.
Plekhova and other Ukrainians say Russia is attempting to erase their culture as part of its war. Moscow has said it strikes only targets associated with Ukraine’s war effort.
Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
