On March 31, the project “Ukraine. Crucifixion. Tribunal” will be presented in the USA (866 United Nations Plaza, New York). This is an international exhibition on the russian-Ukrainian war. It is dedicated to the establishment of the Special International Tribunal, which will judge russia for the crime of aggression. The exhibition is displayed on the eve of the UN voting on the resolution establishing the special international mechanism, which will punish the aggressor state.
The exposition is formed of the artifacts collected within a year in the field expeditions to the newly de-occupied Ukrainian settlements. In the early days of April, there were the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions, in September and October – the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, in November – the Kherson region. In addition, the photo, audio and video fixations of testimonies were carried out.
In the area of 16,000 square feet, over 1,000 museum exhibits are located. The artifacts are compositionally combined into the structure blocks and reveal the extremely important topics of the war.
Among the exhibits: a row of the enemy uniforms, shoes and boots of the military invaders shape the five-pointed russian star inherited from the Soviet era. The enemy maps demonstrate thorough preparations for the attack. One of them was used by the russian saboteur group that had to assist the russian invaders to capture Kyiv. The impressive images were taken on March 8, 2022 – this is the report on one day from the life of the Ukrainian capital on the 13th day of the war.
Through the enemy military equipment, samples of ammunition and insignia, documents, diaries, personal letters and children drawings, newspapers, everyday items, the image of the so-called “second strongest” army of the world, which overstepped all the boundaries of humanness and morality.
Genocide of Ukrainians is proven by the countless number of the burials and mass graves. The demonstrative photos, taken in October 2022 during the museum expedition to the newly de-occupied town of Izyum (Kharkiv region), are the evidence of brutal murders of people regardless sex and age. The door from the school in Yahidne village (Chernihiv region) is exposed, where the russians detained over 360 persons including children and elderly people for almost a month. There is a calendar manually written by the charcoal on the door. Next on the wall there are two lists: of the people shot dead by the occupiers and the ones who got insane and died because of unbearable living conditions.
The russian troops physically ruin schools and universities, kindergartens and orphanages by the devastative missile strikes and shelling, destroy museums and memorials, bombard churches, temples, cathedrals and monuments. The burnt desks and chairs from the destroyed school in Izyum (Kharkiv region) are the impressive evidence. Among the damaged religious items is the “wounded” icon. The fragment of the russian deadly metal hit it in the St. Dimitry of Rostov Church damaged by the enemy in the town of Makariv (Kyiv region).
The giant banners and the mass of the “prop” for holding the pseudo-referendum on annexation of the occupied region to the russian Federation are the undeniable proofs of the russian ideological machine’s long preparations for the invasion.
The stay of the russian military in the occupied territories of Ukraine was marked by the mass looting. The Apple tablet PC and laptop were discovered instead of the armor plates in the bulletproof vest of the killed russian soldier. The occupier stole them in the Ukrainian home.
The presented exhibition is part of the project “Ukraine. Crucifixion” is the world’s first artifact-based stationary exhibition on the russian-Ukrainian war, which was created during the same war. The fundamental project was presented for the first time on May 8, 2022 in Kyiv and became the field for the broad activities at the cultural and informational front.
The implementation of the project was supported by the Office of the President of Ukraine, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the United Nations, the Consulate General of Ukraine in New York
Creators: National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War. Memorial complex.
Logistic partner: Kunsttrans – Kyiv.
Venue from: 866 UNP.
Curator – Yurii Savchuk
Designer – Anton Logov.
