Once hosting one of Ukraine's richest art collections, Kherson’s Regional Art Museum now stands empty. At least 11,000 out of 14,000 artworks were stolen by retreating Russian forces in November 2022 in the potentially biggest art theft since the Second World War. A similar picture presents itself in the local history museum, Kherson Museum of Local Lore, where nearly every piece was taken, save for the flora and fauna collection.

The looting was facilitated by several local museum employees, who collaborated with occupation authorities and later fled to Russia and the occupied Crimea before Kherson was liberated. Whilst some staff members attempted to safeguard the artefacts, others allegedly became collaborators in Russian crimes against the cultural heritage of Ukraine.

The city of Kherson was first occupied at the beginning of March 2022. Immediately, the Kherson Regional Art Museum and its director, Alina Dotsenko, faced intense pressure from the Russian forces. The military repurposed protective sandbags, transforming them into barriers. Recognising the growing threat, Dotsenko sent her staff home, urging them to maintain strict silence.

As May arrived, the occupying forces levied a demand on Dotsenko: an exhibition commemorating “Soviet Victory Day” on 9 May. Dotsenko refused to comply, which catalysed her persecution, forcing her to seek refuge in Ukrainian-controlled territory. Later, on 19 July, occupation authorities broke into the museum. Their intent: to strip the museum of its identity. Onsite guards were dismissed, exposing approximately 14,000 priceless artefacts to the invaders, each a testament to Kherson's rich history.

The looters wasted no time. Dotsenko’s Deputy Director, Hanna Skrypka, was confined within the museum for two days, tasked with cataloguing every piece of art. Subsequently, the occupation forces appointed a new head for the museum: Natalya Desyatova, a local singer with no credible museum experience. Disturbingly, as Dotsenko later revealed, two museum employees, Natalya Koltsova and Anna Fursa – once trusted with the museum's preservation – allegedly provided critical information about the exhibits to the occupiers.

In the history museum, long-time director Tatyana Bratchenko reportedly immediately cooperated with the occupation authorities, even as the majority of her colleagues fled the Russian forces. In August 2022, Bratchenko allegedly showed museum workers from Crimea around the exhibitions in her care in preparation for the transportation of the pieces.

In October of the same year, a key player arrived from occupied Crimea: Andrey Malkin, director of the Central Museum of Tavrida in Simferopol. He swiftly became a central figure in the unfolding art theft saga. Despite his official title, Malkin's activities suggested a nefarious agenda. Eyewitnesses described a meticulous operation, cloaked under the benign guise of an “evacuation,” yet seemingly spearheaded by individuals who should have been the artefacts' protectors.

In early November 2022, the orchestrated looting began. Before the grand heist, the history museum’s director Bratchenko reportedly left Kherson for either Russia or Russian-occupied territory. In her absence, two women coordinated the systematic theft of the history museum. Eyewitness guards report that items from the museum were loaded onto trucks from Russia’s emergency services ministry. About ten days later, the history museum’s satellite branch in the city of Kakhovka was looted for several days in a row.

The paintings taken from Kherson’s museums in Simferopol.

The head of said ministry, Alexander Kuzmenko, stated on 2 April 2023 that “part of the collections of the local history and art museums of Kherson, which were evacuated last fall, is in Henichesk, while the most valuable exhibits were temporarily transferred to museums in Crimea.”

As such, the lion’s share of the looted pieces from both museums is currently located in the Central Museum of Taurida, in Simferopol, with a portion of the collections remaining in Henichesk. On 2 June 2023, Russian authorities announced that a “School Museum of Victory” would be opened in Henichesk. It's highly plausible that this institution will showcase some of the stolen artefacts.