KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The beautiful golden tiara, inlaid with valuable stones by grasp craftsmen some 1,500 years in the past, was one of many world’s most precious artifacts from the blood-letting rule of Attila the Hun, who rampaged with horseback warriors deep into Europe within the fifth century.

The Hun diadem has now vanished from the museum in Ukraine that housed it — maybe, historians concern, ceaselessly. Russian troops carted away the priceless crown and a hoard of different treasures after capturing the Ukrainian metropolis of Melitopol in February, museum authorities say.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, now in its eighth month, is being accompanied by the destruction and pillaging of historic websites and treasures on an industrial scale, Ukrainian authorities say.

In an interview with The Related Press, Ukraine’s tradition minister alleged that Russian troopers helped themselves to artifacts in nearly 40 Ukrainian museums.

The looting and destruction of cultural websites have triggered losses estimated within the a whole lot of tens of millions of euros ({dollars}), the minister, Oleksandr Tkachenko, added.

“The perspective of Russians towards Ukrainian tradition heritage is a warfare crime,” he mentioned.

Ukrainian Tradition Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko talks to The Related Press in Kyiv, Ukraine, September 6, 2022. (AP/Efrem Lukatsky)

For the second, Ukraine’s authorities and its Western backers supplying weapons are principally targeted on defeating Russia on the battlefield. But when and when peace returns, the preservation of Ukrainian collections of artwork, historical past, and tradition additionally will probably be important, so survivors of the warfare can start the following battle: rebuilding their lives.

“These are museums, historic buildings, church buildings. All the pieces that was constructed and created by generations of Ukrainians,” Ukraine’s first girl, Olena Zelenska, mentioned in September when she visited a Ukrainian museum in New York. “It is a warfare towards our identification.”

Employees on the Museum of Native Historical past in Melitopol first tried hiding the Hun diadem and a whole lot of different treasures when Russian troops stormed the southern metropolis. However after weeks of repeated searches, Russian troopers lastly found the constructing’s secret basement the place workers had squirreled away the museum’s most valuable objects — together with the Hun diadem, in keeping with a museum employee.

The employee, who spoke to the AP on situation of anonymity, fearing Russian punishment for even discussing the occasions, mentioned the Ukrainians don’t know the place Russian troops took the haul, which included the tiara and a few 1,700 different artifacts.

Dug up from a burial chamber in 1948, the crown is considered one of only a few Hun crowns worldwide. The museum employee mentioned different treasures that disappeared with Russian troopers embrace 198 items of two,400-year-old gold from the period of the Scythians, nomads who migrated from Central Asia to southern Russia and Ukraine and based an empire in Crimea.

“These are historical finds. These are artistic endeavors. They’re priceless,” mentioned Oleksandr Symonenko, chief researcher at Ukraine’s Institute of Archaeology. “If tradition disappears, it’s an irreparable catastrophe.”

Russia’s Tradition Ministry didn’t reply to questions concerning the Melitopol assortment.

Russian forces additionally looted museums as they laid waste to the Black Sea port of Mariupol, in keeping with Ukrainian officers who’ve pushed from the southern metropolis, which was relentlessly pounded by Russian bombardment. It fell underneath Moscow’s full management solely in Might when Ukrainian defenders who clung to town’s steelworks lastly surrendered.

A view of Mariupol’s Museum of Native Lore that burned down after shelling in an space managed by Russian-backed separatist forces in Mariupol, jap Ukraine, April 28, 2022. (AP Photograph)

Mariupol’s exiled metropolis council mentioned Russian forces pilfered greater than 2,000 objects from town’s museums. Among the many most valuable objects had been historical spiritual icons, a novel handwritten Torah scroll, a 200-year-old bible, and greater than 200 medals, the council mentioned.

Additionally looted had been artworks by painters Arkhip Kuindzhi, who was born in Mariupol, and Crimea-born Ivan Aivazovsky, each famed for his or her seascapes, the exiled councilors mentioned. They mentioned Russian troops carted off their stolen bounty to the Russian-occupied Donetsk area of jap Ukraine.

The invasion has additionally wrought in depth harm and destruction to Ukraine’s cultural patrimony. The UN’s cultural company is protecting a tally of web sites being struck by missiles, bombs, and shelling. With the warfare now in its eighth month, the company says it has verified harm to 199 websites in 12 areas.

They embrace 84 church buildings and different spiritual websites, 37 buildings of historic significance, 37 buildings for cultural actions, 18 monuments, 13 museums, and 10 libraries, UNESCO says.

Ukrainian authorities tallies are even increased, with authorities saying their rely of destroyed and broken spiritual buildings alone is as much as at the least 270.

Whereas invasion forces hunted for treasures to steal, Ukrainian museum staff did what they may to maintain them out of Russian arms. Tens of 1000’s of things have been evacuated away from the entrance strains and combat-struck areas.

Natalia Panchenko, director of the Museum of Historic Treasures of Ukraine, exhibits empty showcases on the museum in Kyiv, September 2, 2022. (AP/Efrem Lukatsky)

In Kyiv, the director of the Museum of Historic Treasures of Ukraine lived within the constructing, guarding its artifacts, through the invasion’s first weeks when Russian forces sought, unsuccessfully, to encircle the capital.

“We had been afraid of the Russian occupiers as a result of they destroy every little thing that may be recognized as Ukrainian,” recalled the director, Natalia Panchenko.

Fearing Russian troops would storm town, she sought to confuse them by taking down the plaque on the museum’s entrance. She additionally dismantled reveals, fastidiously packing away artifacts into packing containers for evacuation.

Someday, she hopes, they’ll return to their rightful place. For now, the museum is simply displaying copies.

“These items had been fragile, they survived a whole lot of years,” she mentioned. “We couldn’t stand the thought they might be misplaced.”