Ukrainian officials said Saturday that over 250 cultural institutions have been “damaged or destroyed” and thousands of artifacts looted since Russia launched its invasion on Feb. 24, per the New York Times.
The big picture: Among the items Putin’s forces are accused of stealing are ancient Scythian gold objects from “one of the largest and most expensive collections in Ukraine,” in the Russian-occupied Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia, said the southeastern city’s mayor, Ivan Fedorov.
The Scythian empire gold dated from the 4 century B.C. and was extracted by a man in a white coat with “long tweezers and special gloves,” who raided boxes stored in the cellar of a Melitopol museum, accompanied by a squad of armed Russian soldiers, the NYT reports.
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