Following April 24 attack on Kyiv, artworks, icons, towels saved

Ruzhyn and Okhapkin reported this in a comment to a Ukrinform correspondent.

“There was an Easter exhibition in that building, which children had visited. The director of the institution where the exhibition was held pleaded the rescuers to save the artworks. The artworks were carried out, one or two were damaged, and all were wet because the pipes had burst. The towels belonging to Mrs. Zoya Ruzhin, who is in charge of this project, were also damaged,” said artist Okhapkin.

Tetiana Narutska, head of the Bdzhilka youth club, where the exhibition took place, helped rescue the pieces. She was there at dawn, and the ceiling had collapsed along with pipes bursting. The books and decorative “pysanka” tree displayed at the exhibition were also damaged.

Ruzhyn, who specializes in collecting authentic towels and headscarves from different regions of Ukraine, had part of her collection shown in the exhibition. Okhapkin’s works were featured in the traveling exhibition ‘Dyvosvit Ukraine’, which has been touring the country for several years, displaying household icons and portraits of prominent Ukrainian figures such as Shevchenko and Franko. Around 20 paintings were on display.

One of the damaged works, a depiction of Virgin Mary, will be sent to the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War. It was torn and the frame damaged. The museum staff reached out after seeing photos of the saved pieces online.

Zoya Ruzhyn is an artist, poet, writer, and public figure, the head of the ‘Art Special Forces’ project, and a member of Ukraine’s National Women’s Council.

Oleksandr Okhapkin is a contemporary Ukrainian painter, a deserved artist of Ukraine, primarily known for his icon painting (household icons).

As reported by Ukrinform, on April 24, Russian invaders attacked Kyiv with drones and missiles. According to the Kyiv City Military Administration, 12 people were killed in the attack.

Photo: Zoya Ruzhyn