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Thirty intact exhibits have been found beneath the rubble of the ‘Chernobyl’ museum, which was damaged in the attack on 24 May

Thirty intact exhibits have been found beneath the rubble of the ‘Chernobyl’ museum, which was damaged in the attack on 24 May

27 May 2026, 11:47

Thirty intact exhibits have been found beneath the rubble of the ‘Chernobyl’ museum, which was damaged in the attack on 24 May — The ruined 'Chernobyl' museum in Kyiv

During the search operation, staff at the National Museum of Chernobyl discovered 30 artefacts. The museum building was damaged during a massive Russian attack on Kyiv on the night of 24 May.

This was reported on the museum’s social media accounts.

According to staff, the exhibits were found on the third day after the museum building was damaged.

“Finding them intact beneath tonnes of concrete is a colossal achievement, our great shared victory over destruction. Every artefact lifted from the dust is like a breath of fresh air for the whole museum,” they noted.

The museum says that pieces of metal from the rocket that struck the building were found alongside the exhibits — a “silent witness to a war crime”.

“We are not stopping for a moment. The team continues to clear the rubble, tidy up the site and sift through the debris centimetre by centimetre to find other surviving museum items,” the staff write.

The attack on Kyiv on 24 May: what is known

During the night, Russian forces launched 90 missiles of various types against Ukraine, including a medium-range ballistic missile (the ‘Oreshnik’) and 600 drones of various types. Air defences intercepted 55 missiles and 549 drones.

The main target of the massive Russian strike was Kyiv. In terms of the number of locations damaged, this attack was the largest of those carried out by Russia since the start of the full-scale invasion. Around 90 people were injured. Two people were killed.

In the capital, damage was reported across all districts of the city. The Russians struck residential buildings and schools, as well as a food market and the ‘Kvadrat’ shopping centre near the Lukyanivska metro station.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that the building of the National Museum “Chernobyl” was damaged during the attack. They also stated that as a result of the strike, the museum has irretrievably lost around 40% of its exhibits.

Among the items that were saved are artefacts from the museum’s storage facilities, a painting by Maria Prymachenko, and the Ukrainian flag that was raised at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant immediately after its de-occupation in 2022.

Ukraine’s National Commission for UNESCO has described the massive Russian shelling of Kyiv as “cultural genocide” and an “act of terror” and has called for Russia to be held to account.

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