The Kyiv Independent

Recording: Q&A with the War Crimes Investigations Unit about their documentary “Curated Theft” (Patreon)

Published:

2025-01-28 14:14:05

Imported:

2026-09

Tags:

recording

Content

Dear Kyiv Independent members,

Last week, we organized an exclusive screening of the documentary “Curated Theft” by our War Crimes Investigations Unit. The film investigates how Russian forces looted two local museums in Kherson, committing the largest robbery of its kind in Europe since World War II.

After the film, Yevheniia Motorevska and Danylo Mokryk from the War Crimes Investigations Unit answered your questions about the investigation, including about the odds of recovering the stolen items, the impact of Russia’s war on Ukraine’s culture, and the likelihood of war criminals being accountable for their actions.

Thank you to those who attended and to those who sent in questions. We’d also like to thank you for your support — your contributions help us fund projects like our War Crimes Investigations Unit and their latest documentary “Curated Theft.”

If you have any ideas for future Q&As or any topic you’d like to know more about, please reach out to us at community@kyivindependent.com. We’re looking forward to hearing from you.

Files

Exclusive premiere of “Curated Theft” — followed by a Q&A

Recording of an online screening for our community members, followed by a Q&A with Yevheniia Motorevska and Danylo Mokryk from the War Crimes Investigations Unit. Prior to Russian forces fleeing Kherson in the fall of 2022, they looted the local history and art museums, stealing works of art and archaeological artifacts, including Scythian, Gothic, and Sarmatian gold. Despite the scale of the theft, there are almost no witnesses to this crime on the Ukrainian side, and officials in Moscow have kept the details secret. Our War Crimes Investigations Unit decided to find out who organized the illegal removal of valuables and where the collections from the Kherson museums are now stored. The head of the unit, Yevheniia Motorevska, posed as both a naive producer working for a Russian television channel and as a tough Russian investigator in order to uncover the details of the robbery and establish the names of those who perpetrated the crime.