In Kyiv, a family sees decades of heritage go up in smoke after a Russian airstrike

A family in Kyiv lost much of their cultural and family heritage in Russia's violent missile and drone attack on the Ukrainian capital on Thursday. Among the destroyed items were thousands of antique books, religious icons, and a rosary given to them by Pope Francis.

Iryna Plekhova, a 42-year-old cultural manager, returned to her devastated apartment to try to salvage what she could. Amid the ashes, she discovered charred books, religious objects reduced to rubble, and the remnants of collections she and her husband, a filmmaker, had amassed over several decades.

“We have nothing left. Everything was completely destroyed by the flames,” she said. The couple lived in a building located near Ukraine’s main film archive, a building historically linked to several generations of Ukrainian filmmakers.

According to authorities, Thursday's attack, one of the deadliest against Kyiv since the start of the war more than four years ago, left 30 people dead and caused significant damage in several neighborhoods of the capital. The family's building had already been damaged in a previous strike on June 15, before being ravaged by a fire sparked by debris from the latest attack.

Among the losses are approximately 5,000 antique books, an icon passed down by Iryna Plekhova's grandmother and preserved throughout World War II, and DVDs containing valuable audiovisual archives that the couple intended to hand over to the national archives.

While searching through the rubble, Iryna Plekhova nevertheless managed to find a tryzub, the coat of arms of Ukraine carved in wood by her stepfather, though slightly damaged. This national symbol became one of the few objects to survive the fire.

Since the start of the large-scale Russian invasion in 2022, numerous historical sites, museums, churches, and monuments of Ukrainian cultural heritage have been damaged or destroyed. Just last month, the Dormition Cathedral at the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, one of the country's holiest sites, was severely damaged in an attack that Ukrainian authorities describe as deliberate.