Russian Shahed drone attacks Kharkiv Art Museum, injuring 6, including infant

UKRAINE, KHARKIV, Jun. 16 — On Jun. 14, Russian forces launched a Shahed kamikaze drone at the Kharkiv Art Museum, injuring 6 people, including a 1-month-old girl, reported Oleh Syniehubov, the governor of the region. 

Syniehubov said that the girl and woman aged 62 were hospitalized after the Russian attack.

Kharkiv Art Museum right after the Russian attack on Jun. 14 / Photo: Gwara Media, Polina Kulish

The Kharkiv Art Museum is the local architectural landmark. After the Russian attack, a fire broke out in the museum’s building, taking over the attic and reaching the roof of the building, reported Gwara’s journalists from the impact site. , said to Gwara.

“There are holes in the roof, and rain could get there,” said Oleksandr Kostenko, deputy head of the Culture and Tourism department of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration, to Gwara. 

The consequences of the Russian attack on Kharkiv Art Museum / Photo: Gwara Media, Mia Kluishnikova

According to him, the Russian attack on the Kharkiv Art Museum damaged nearly 1,000 Soviet Era graphic works. In total the museum keeps 5,000 Soviet-era graphics. 

Kostenko added that the museum’s artifacts and some private collections that were temporarily stored there were also damaged by the Russian strikes. Some of these artifacts, he explained, weren’t damaged by the fire but by the water used to extinguish it.

The consequences of the Russian attack on Kharkiv Art Museum / Photo: Gwara Media, Mia Kluishnikova

“The experts will additionally estimate their (museum artefacts —ed.) degree of damage,” Kostenko said, adding, that the regional authorities plan to preserve the building after the Russian attack. Kostenko said that officials work on moving all museum’s artefacts to another safe place from the building. 

The consequences of the Russian attack on Kharkiv Art Museum / Photo: Gwara Media, Mia Klushnikova

Viktor Dvornikov, a Kharkiv local architect, who was present at the impact site said to Gwara that the art collection was supposed to be evacuated after the Cabinet of Ministers issued a relevant resolution in February 2026.

Viktor Dvornikov, a local architect, at the impact site on Jun. 14 / photo: Gwara Media, Polina Kulish

The Cabinet of Ministers resolutions declares that the evacuation of valuables is mandatory for museums located within a radius of 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the frontline, as well as in territories with ongoing or past hostilities. Kharkiv is located about 36 kilometers (22 miles) from the Russian border. 

“I saw that the museum still had art pieces, though they weren’t on display for a long time. Some of them were inside the museum (during the attack),” Dvornikov said. 

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