UKRAINE, KHARKIV OBLAST, Apr. 7 — A Russian drone attacked the Velykyi Burluk settlement in the Kupiansk district, causing a fire in a building that is a 19th-century architectural heritage site, said the State Emergency Service.

Andrii Kanashevych, the head of the Kupiansk district military administration, confirmed the attack on the building, called Dontsiv-Zakharzhevskykh country house, and was built in 1835.

“It was the only architectural heritage site dating back to the century before last in the Kupiansk district. It is a huge loss for us,” said Kanashevych to Suspilne Kharkiv.

As for 2017, only the wooden palace and the restored church remain at the Dontsiv-Zakharzhevsky country house. The house is privately owned, and access is restricted. The palace is quite difficult to find because it is located on a closed-off property. The area is used for garages and parking for agricultural machinery, reported one of the users of the Ukraine Incognita non-profit project for local history enthusiasts.

In 1784, Hryhorii Skovoroda, a famous Ukrainian philosopher from the Kharkiv region, stayed in this building. There is also a legend that the Book of Veles tablets, a text on ancient Slavic religion and history, were found on the territory, said the Kharkiv scientific and methodological center for cultural heritage preservation.

Velykyi Burluk is a settlement located 68 kilometers (~42 miles) northeast of Kharkiv, in the Burluk river valley. Since the beginning of October, Ukrainian war monitoring group DeepState has recorded Russian advances east of the Velykyi Burluk near Ambarne and Odradne villages.

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