Investigation: Uncovering the secret Russian FSB operation to loot Ukraine’s museums

This was the largest museum theft in Europe since World War II. In the fall of 2022, before withdrawing from the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, Russian forces looted two local museums, stealing valuable works of art and archaeological artifacts like gold from the Scythians, Goths, and Sarmatians. In two years, the investigation by Ukrainian authorities had not made much progress. The team of the Kyiv Independent’s War Crimes Investigation Unit decided to find out who organized the illegal removal of valuables and where the collections from the Kherson museums are now.