Ukrainian intelligence reveals large-scale looting of Crimea by Russians

The scouts reported on cultural objects that the occupiers illegally appropriated and took out of Crimea during the occupation. These are artifacts from archaeological sites, some of which the aggressor hides under the guise of museum exhibitions.

This was reported by the press service of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine.

The Defense Intelligence of Ukraine has released data on 110 cultural property that Russians appropriated during archaeological excavations in the temporarily occupied Crimea from 2014 to 2025. The relevant information was posted in the Stolen Heritage section of the War & Sanctions portal.

These are artifacts illegally found at such sites as the Artesian settlement, the Genoese fortress of Cembalo, and the southern suburb of Chersonesos Tavriya. The intelligence also reports on valuables from the territory of the Kadykivske settlement (Roman camp), where the occupation administration of Sevastopol plans to build a shopping center, and on exhibits that were taken from the National Reserve "Chersonesos Tavriya" under the guise of a temporary exhibition in the Museum of History of Yekaterinburg.

The section is supplemented with details on the sites of illegal excavations, facts of theft of cultural heritage and actions of the occupation authorities that violate international law.
The DIU emphasized that every war crime against the Ukrainian people will not go unpunished.

Recently, during the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, Ukraine presented an exhibition dedicated to Crimean Tatar culture. The event united international partners around the theme of preserving identity and supporting Ukrainian political prisoners. The centerpiece of the exhibition was authentic Crimean Tatar artifacts, including household items, prayer rugs, ceramics, and rare copies of the Quran, which were taken during the 1944 deportation.

Last January, Kharkiv's Folio Publishing House presented a book by Odesa-based journalist and editor of the Intent publication Yevhenia Genova, Crimean Tatar Families.

In it, the author collected stories from 14 families, covering events from the occupation of Crimea in the eighteenth century to Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. It is a kind of memoir of ordinary people who recall how historical upheavals affected the fates of their ancestors, the lives of their grandparents, the return to Crimea in the 1990s, the resistance in 2014, and the armed struggle after February 24, 2022.

Анна Бальчінос