Kharkiv-based war reporter Anna Chernenko helped rescue exhibits from an art museum that was damaged by Russian shelling on 14 June.
She said in a comment to an Institute of Mass Information journalist that it had been a spur-of-the-moment decision as the media crew arrived on site to record the aftermath of another Russian strike.
“No one could even get close to the museum right away. There was a threat of double-tap strikes, and everyone was taking cover in the subway. And then, as we were filming, museum staff and administrators started entering the building along with the rescuers. We went in as a crew to film how the upper floor, where the exhibition halls were, was damaged. It turned out that there were still exhibits left there,” the journalist said.
Anna Chernenko added that the rescuers had started passing the paintings to one another, and everyone present, including journalists, instantly joined the chain.
“Some put down their cameras and phones, some were carrying while filming. The ceiling in a distant room was on fire, so the rescuers only let us in as far as the door and were handing us the paintings from inside. It’s not that anyone asked or they couldn’t have done it without us. It just had to be done quickly, and that’s why everyone who was in the room got involved, because the ceiling could burn through and the beams could collapse,” she said.
Staff of municipal services and the city administration, volunteers, and passers-by helped evacuated the museum artefacts along with the rescuers, the Kharkiv Oblast Department of the State Emergency Service reported in a Facebook post.
According to the SES, an art museum in Kharkiv caught fire as a result of a Russian drone strike on the afternoon of 14 June. The fire spread to over 1,200 sq. m. According to reports by first responders, five people were injured in the attack, including one child.
Although a significant share of the exhibits had been evacuated in advance, many paintings still remained in the building.
The Russian strike on Kyiv on 15 June 2026 caused a fire on the territory of the National Culture, Art, and Museum Complex “Art Arsenal”. The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra also suffered significant damage from the attack. The Kyiv offices of the House of Europe and the Goethe-Institut Ukraine were damaged as well.