In Ukraine, the number of destroyed, bombed and looted museums and shelled temples, libraries and archives is increasing. The Russians are also deliberately destroying monuments symbolizing events and figures important to Ukrainian history and culture. The bullet-riddled bust of Taras Shevchenko, the Ukrainian national bard, was a mute witness to the crimes committed against the inhabitants of Borodianka. His legacy includes poetry, novels, memoirs, autobiographies and numerous paintings and prints. Taras Shevchenko’s literary and artistic output influenced the formation of the consciousness of Ukrainians as a society, including the development of the Ukrainian language and its use in literature. In one of his works, Shevchenko wrote, “O lovely maidens, fall in love, But not with Muscovites, For Muscovites are foreign folk,
They do not treat you right” (Taras Shevchenko, “Katerina”, translated by John Weir).
For. Yurii Veres