Kramatorsk Moves to Protect Monuments of Shevchenko and Bykov From Russian Shelling

Monument Evacuation Underway in Kramatorsk

According to Главком: Fearing destruction from ongoing Russian attacks, local authorities in Kramatorsk have begun relocating the city’s most iconic monuments. The evacuation aims to safeguard these cultural landmarks from potential obliteration, a concern that has grown urgent amid recent hostilities. Crews are currently dismantling and preparing for transport statues of Taras Shevchenko and Leonid Bykov, as well as a sculptural tribute to the liquidators of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster. The monuments are being moved to secure locations outside Donetsk Oblast, though officials have not disclosed their exact destinations.

Earlier, Kramatorsk already relocated a monument to Stepan Chubenko, temporarily sending it to the Lviv region until martial law ends. According to Ihor Yeskov, head of the press service for the Kramatorsk City Executive Committee,

“the main challenge in the evacuation process is the legal status of the objects.”

He added that

“the city government can only manage monuments listed on its own balance sheet.”

Statues of Vasyl Stus, Maria Prymachenko, and the Circle of Life installation remain in place, as they are privately owned.

Broader Context of Monument Evacuations

This effort in Kramatorsk reflects a wider trend across Ukraine during wartime. For instance, the Dnipropetrovsk region has taken steps to preserve cultural heritage, evacuating roughly 35,000 museum artifacts. These actions follow a Cabinet of Ministers-approved procedure for evacuating museum items under martial law, which mandates:

• mandatory evacuation for territories within 50 kilometers of the front line;
• evacuation for areas listed on the official combat operations register.

Regional administrations coordinate these evacuations in consultation with military command.

The monument removal in Kramatorsk is part of a broader strategy to protect Ukraine’s cultural heritage amid war. Preserving these artifacts has become a pressing issue for many regions experiencing active conflict. These decisions underscore the importance of safeguarding national identity and history during an armed conflict.

As Kramatorsk takes measures to protect its cultural heritage, it mirrors similar initiatives across Ukraine, particularly in the Dnipropetrovsk region. There, authorities have evacuated approximately 35,000 museum items to safeguard them from the ravages of war. This coordinated effort highlights the urgent need for preservation of national identity during these challenging times. To learn more about the extensive evacuations of cultural artifacts in Dnipropetrovsk, see our detailed report here.