Ukraine's culture minister reveals number of Ukrainian artists killed in action since onset of full-scale Russian invasion

Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, 123 Ukrainian artists who enlisted in the Armed Forces have been killed in action. Furthermore, Russia has destroyed or damaged more than 1,000 cultural heritage sites in Ukraine.

Source: Mykola Tochytskyi, Ukraine's Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications, during the national joint 24/7 newscast on 21 September

Details: "This war is not just about territory; it aims to eradicate everything Ukrainian – culture, language, and identity. We now have our own generation of executed artists [Tochytskyi makes a reference to a period in 20th-century Ukrainian history known as the Executed Renaissance, during which many Ukrainian artists, writers, and poets were executed by the Soviet regime – ed.]," the culture minister stressed.

He added that the issue of preserving the Ukrainian identity as part of European heritage is a matter of national security.

For this purpose, the ministry is initiating discussions with foreign partners on ways to preserve Ukrainian culture and recover cultural heritage items stolen by Russia.

"Our colleagues clearly recognise that this war exhibits signs of genocide. We will do everything possible to ensure this is presented in international court cases," Tochytskyi stated.

Background: 

• In May 2023, Ukrainian writer and author of the book The Factory, Ihor Mysiak, was killed in action. Ihor was a part of the 2014 Revolution of Dignity and had been defending Ukraine in the ranks of the Armed Forces since the autumn of 2014.
• In addition, Oleksii Khilskyi, a theatre and film director known for his roles in the Ukrainian TV series Doctor Kovalchuk, The Sniffer and others, was killed in action.
• The full-scale Russian invasion claimed the life of actor and director Andrii Pavlenko, whose career includes over fifty TV series and films.
• Writer and volunteer Oleksandr Menshkov, author of Me, Fox and the Occupation, was killed in action in Donetsk Oblast while defending Ukraine.
• At the end of August 2024, Andrii Kasianov, an actor at the Taras Shevchenko National Theatre in Dnipro, was killed in action.

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