The National Art Gallery in Kyiv survived the Russian missile attack. The building was damaged, but the exhibits were saved. For now, additional security measures have been taken, and the museum is waiting for its visitors. 

Not so long ago, I visited Berlin and held some negotiations with the best museums of the city. Yes, that was what we had there, during the meeting of general directors. So, we had those negotiations there. We were very well received, and everything was fine. Thus, they said the following.

When the full-scale aggression began, they held a special meeting on the topic: to what extent are they ready for the same sort of events. And I can say that they are not really ready. We were not ready either. Our leadership was not ready, but I am proud that our team rallied in a matter of minutes, and we began to do everything possible to protect our exhibits.

And when we had a very... You know, on 10 October, we had a missile attack near our museum, but not a single exhibit was damaged. I believe that this is due to our properly done work. In addition, we do everything to ensure that part of our exhibits are located in the territory of the European Union, being displayed at some exhibitions long-term. And as for the remaining collection, we have 14,000 units in storage, and this is a lot. We are making a special underground storage, equipped with special generators-dryers. It’s good to have it in our facility. Therefore, our museum and we stand well-prepared.

Currently, we do not have a single exhibit on display. We are now, basically, a museum of modern art of Ukraine, and we do everything to show the best examples of today’s Ukrainian art from the most famous artists.

Primarily, we sent out those projects that we already had ready, because any exhibition…, it takes quite a long time, and so it takes time for us to have some projects ready. The Birth of Ukraine is our main project about those artists who were born in Ukraine. This is our cultural front; this is our fight to eliminate the consequences of the colonial policy of the Russian Empire.

Preserving the exhibits is our main task, nothing else. The director is responsible for everything, for all and everything. I cannot [transfer] my responsibility to anyone, neither to senior management nor to my subordinates. I am responsible for everything. So that is the duty line I follow. The museum should be working. The museum must live on. It cannot be closed down. This is just not possible.