Russia-Ukraine war

On the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, The Art Newspaper looks at the human and cultural costs of the conflict, the art world’s efforts to support displaced institutions and individuals, and how Ukraine’s built and artistic heritage has been used to tell the opposing narratives of war.

'Frank conversations on certain topics can lead to real prison terms': Russian artist duo finds haven on Long Island

Dmitry Okruzhnov and Maria Sharova, who opposed Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, are now working from a New York studio

Behind Ukraine and Russia's battle over 19th-century seascape painter

Both countries lay claim to Ivan Aivazovsky and his works, many of which were in Crimea when it was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014

Unesco beefs up protection for cultural heritage in Ukraine

UN heritage body grants 'provisional enhanced protection' to the Odessa Literary Museum and the National Historical and Memorial Reserve Babyn Yar

‘While there are dictators, no one can feel safe’: projects marking anniversaries of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine emphasise need for global vigilance

Among the initiatives launched to mark both 1,000 days since the invasion and its approaching third anniversary is an exhibition in Kharkiv exploring how the concept of safety “has been profoundly redefined by the war”

Prizesnews

Bangladeshi artist Ashfika Rahman wins Ukraine's $100,000 Future Generation Art Prize

A ceremony to announce the award, which had been delayed by Russia's full-scale invasion, was held in Kyiv last week

Treasured Constructivist skyscraper in Kharkiv damaged by Russian strike

Derzhprom, completed in 1928, is an important symbol of Ukrainian national identity

Russian military destroys ancient Ukrainian burial mounds, report finds

Satellite imagery and geospatial analysis reveals extent of damage to sites in occupied region

Prizesnews

'This year is particularly special': art prize exhibition delayed by Russian invasion opens in Kyiv

In the midst of an ongoing war, the PinchukArtCentre’s Future Generation Prize will award $100,000 to one of 21 shortlisted artists

US government provides more funds and imposes new restrictions to safeguard Ukrainian art

An additional $1m in funding for preservation and conservation efforts follows new import restrictions to help curb Russia’s looting and trafficking of Ukraine’s heritage

President Volodymyr Zelensky visits New York’s Ukrainian Museum, calls for ‘the decolonisation of Ukrainian art’

The Ukrainian president and first lady, who are in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, inaugurated the museum’s major Alexandra Exter exhibition

Crime news

Former Trump adviser—and Russian state TV commentator—charged with money laundering through art and antiques

Dimitri Simes and his wife Anastasia have been charged with three counts of violating US sanctions, including money laundering through the acquisition of art

18-year-old artist Veronika Kozhushko killed in Russian airstrike on Kharkiv

The prominent Ukrainian poet Serhiy Zhadan described her as “very young, sincere and gifted," adding: "There is no explanation for this. And there is no forgiveness either”

A Hamptons art gala raises money for Ukrainian children, with an assist from actor Liev Schreiber

As the summer season in the tony Long Island enclave wound down, the humanitarian organisation BlueCheck and Manhattan’s Mriya gallery teamed up for a benefit auction

Volta New York champions Ukrainian artists

The satellite fair’s new director visited Kyiv in the spring to forge partnerships with artists and dealers there

Sasha Skochilenko: I just happened to be the winner of the ‘Hunger Games’

The Russian artist, who was freed in a prison swap, on life under President Putin and spending more than two years in prison for an art intervention opposing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Release of Olena Pekh highlights plight of other Ukrainian cultural workers languishing in Russian prisons

Through Vatican mediation, the museum researcher was freed alongside nine others earlier this summer

Ukrainian worker manages a wrecked museum in exile

Mariupol museum’s Oleksandr Hore, trapped in Odesa, is documenting losses and monitoring looting

New York City’s ‘first Ukrainian art gallery’ highlights artists living in the war zone

“Some of the works that we’re selling here, I’m very confident that in three years they will double in price,” says Mriya gallery founder Artem Yalanskiy

Russian dissident artist released as part of historic prisoner swap

Sasha Skochilenko, who was arrested in 2022 for an art intervention opposing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, was freed along with Wall Street Journal writer Evan Gershkovich and 15 others

Russian artist imprisoned for three and a half years over alleged anti-war supermarket protest

Anastasia Dyudyaeva is the second artist in less than a year to be jailed for allegedly disseminating anti-government messages in such a setting

‘These are terrible crimes’: A Ukrainian museum director’s fight to recover art

Alina Dotsenko of the Kherson Art Museum explains how her team is working to find stolen objects

Anglo-French actor brings Ukrainian art to London with new festival

Edward Akrout is launching Kyiv Art Sessions at the Old Sessions House this weekend

‘There is no panic’: artist Pavlo Makov on working in the beleaguered Ukrainian city of Kharkiv

Meanwhile, the Royal Academy in London prepares to launch a major survey of Ukrainian Modernist art in the wake of Russia’s invasion

Artur Snitkus, Ukrainian artist and musician, killed in combat near Donetsk, aged 36

In tributes, friends and colleagues described him as “icon of the Ukrainian queer underground” and “a holy man”

Exiled Russian artist reflects on the impact of war on his hometown in Peckham show

Pavel Otdelnov's show at the Old Waiting Room in south London aims to “discover the origins of the catastrophe unfolding before our eyes today”

Ukrainian museums call for better recognition of their role in reconstruction

More than 100 Ukrainian museum professionals, meeting in Berlin, pledge to rebuild a modern, inclusive cultural sector

Huge Soviet-era monument taken down in Kyiv as Ukraine continues 'derussification'

The Pereyaslav Rada sculpture celebrates a historical agreement between the two nations

Russian security forces search Moscow’s Garage Museum

The raid was reportedly related to an investigation into dissident artist Pyotr Verzilov

Russianews

Head of New Holland art centre in St Petersburg resigns after husband's social post

Roxana Shatunovskaya stepped down from the space founded by Dasha Zhukova and Roman Abramovich after her husband posted about the Moscow terrorist attack on Facebook