Russia opens ‘Battlefield’ museum in occupied Mariupol

Russian authorities have marked the opening of a new museum in occupied Mariupol with an exhibit dedicated to the “liberation” of the Ukrainian city in 2022.

The Battlefield Mariupol Museum, as it is named, is located on the rebuilt ruins of a business startup and innovation development center that was destroyed in the war, the Mariupol City Council said in a post to Telegram last month. News of the museum outside of Ukraine or Russia appears to have been first reported by The Art Newspaper.

The Mariupol City Council said that Denis Pushilin, a pro-Russian politician who was elected the head of the separatist Donetsk People's Republic, attended the opening of the museum with members of the Russian State Duma.

“In the so-called ‘museum’ the invaders organized an exhibition dedicated to the ‘liberation of the city’ in 2022,” the Mariupol City Council said. “The halls contain information about Russian criminals who purposefully destroyed the peaceful city. They are presented as ‘heroes.’”

Russia has also used the museum to draw parallels between Russia’s invasion and the liberation of Mariupol from Nazi occupation, Ukrainian officials said. Sergei Ladochkin, a member of the Russian Civic Chamber, called it a “symbol of the city's liberation from neo-Nazis” in comments to Russian state media.

“Such distorted historical parallels are aimed at trying to justify their war crimes and atrocities against civilians,” the Mariupol City council said.

“Mariupol suffered much more from the Russian invaders than during World War II. Almost 90% of the buildings were destroyed or damaged, and at least 22,000 people died during the massive shelling of residential areas.”

Petro Andryushchenko, who leads the Center for the Study of the Occupation, said in a post to Telegram that Russia had “opened an entertainment pavilion on bones.”

“A museum of self-admiration. A museum of occupation ecstasy. A museum where executioners like their own work,” he said.

In its reporting on Battlefield Mariupol, Russian state media agency TASS called it a “museum dedicated to the heroes of the Soviet Military District and the Great Patriotic War” and said the renovations to the site took two years.

"More than 100 million rubles have been invested here,” Ladochkin said. “Everything here burned, there were fires, and we reinforced the beams here. It was a major undertaking.”

The museum includes more than 10 themed areas, according to TASS. Among its attractions is an exhibit dedicated to the children “who perished during Ukrainian aggression” and another with letters from the wives and mothers of those who participated in the “special operation,” as Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the war.

In October, Russia’s Victory Museum opened an exhibit dedicated to Moscow’s relationship with Pyongyang that acknowledges North Korea’s involvement in the Ukraine war. Simultaneously, Kim Jong Un made a speech at the groundbreaking of a new museum in North Korea celebrating foreign combat feats.

The "Shoulder to Shoulder" exhibition, which runs through January 31, is dedicated to the history of the allied relations between Russia and North Korea from 1945 to the present day, the Victory Museum said in a statement on its website.

Items displayed in the exhibit include paintings and photographs from the collections of the Victory Museum and eight Russian museums and archives, as well as other documents, diplomatic gifts and historic military uniforms and weapons.

But the core section of the exhibition is titled "Sacred Mission" and covers the period from 2000 to the present. It comes after North Korean soldiers helped Russia fend off Ukrainian troops who successfully seized territory in the Russian province of Kursk last August.

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