Key Points
- A newly opened museum in Russia, Warmth for Soldier Z, showcases domestic items of Ukrainians brought from the war.
- The organisers said that they would be grateful for future donations.
- HRW, Ukrainian, European, and Russian media reported systematic looting by Russian soldiers in Ukrainian homes.
A new museum called Warmth for Soldier Z opened in Russia this week.
The museum reportedly showcases "domestic items of Ukrainians from cities within the special military operation zone", as the war in Ukraine is officially referred to in Russia.
The items, including books in Ukrainian, licence plates, medals, and identification documents, were reportedly brought by volunteers from the war zone and donated to the museum.
The exhibition was set up by the Union of Marines (union of naval soldiers) of the city of Nefteyugansk and announced on its official page on the Russian social media platform VKontakte (VK).
"There are currently only a few exhibits in the museum, but more will be added. If anyone has anything that can be donated to our museum, we would be grateful," the organisers wrote.
The organisers of the Warmth for Soldier Z museum said that they would be happy to accept donations. Credit: VK
The Z in the title is a reference to what has become a symbol for the Russian "special military operation". It's displayed on Russian military vehicles involved in the invasion of Ukraine and spray painted on buildings there.
The organisers didn't explain how the donors acquired the exhibited items.
Numerous reports of looting
Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, there have been numerous reports of looting.
International organisations such as Human Rights Watch, as well as Ukrainian, European and Russian independent media and NGOs, documented instances of Russian soldiers systematically stealing items from Ukrainian homes.
Independent Russian media Meduza reported that Russian soldiers were using a courier service to send large packages to Russia believed to contain items they stole in Ukraine.
The Australian Institute of International Affairs, a private research institute on politics and international relations, reported about video footage purportedly taken from one of the checkpoints at the Russian border, which showed the different items allegedly being sent to Russia by soldiers: trainers, canned food, car tyres, television sets, and tents.
Russia's foreign ministry has consistently alleged that the Ukrainian authorities were producing orchestrated videos depicting looting by Russian soldiers.
It has previously been reported that in Irpin, a town outside Kyiv that was the site of fierce fighting with nearly 70 per cent of the city being heavily damaged or destroyed, families returned home to discover that Russian soldiers had been living there.
A bathroom in one of the houses destroyed by Russian shelling in Irpin, Kyiv region, north-central Ukraine. Source: Getty / Future Publishing
"I loved this house very much because we built it recently and lived there for only a year and a half (before the start of the war)," she said.
"Our neighbours said that the house survived, unlike many nearby homes, because, retreating, Russian soldiers mined many houses, leaving mines, for example, inside pianos or fridges.
"Thanks to the neighbours for having our house checked by sappers. But they said that someone lived there, and everything was damaged, so I don't want to come back there."
