Acting Director of Odesa Fine Arts Museum Oleksandra Kovalchuk fled Ukraine in March. She now tries to protect her country’s heritage from abroad. Malcolm Gay reports.
Waking to the sound of explosions, Oleksandra Kovalchuk quickly grasped what was happening. It was 5 a.m., and as she checked her phone that February morning, Kovalchuk saw that friends across her hometown of Odesa had heard the same blasts.
The war in Ukraine had begun.
US intelligence had predicted for weeks that Kyiv could fall in a matter of days, and Kovalchuk, acting director of the Odesa Fine Arts Museum, feared the worst: no water, no power, no exit.
The museum’s collection might come under fire, she worried, and so might her infant son, Yehor.
“The thought of having my son in that situation was unbearable,” said Kovalchuk, 37...Keep reading on MSN.
Waking to the sound of explosions, Oleksandra Kovalchuk quickly grasped what was happening. It was 5 a.m., and as she checked her phone that February morning, Kovalchuk saw that friends across her hometown of Odesa had heard the same blasts.
The war in Ukraine had begun.
US intelligence had predicted for weeks that Kyiv could fall in a matter of days, and Kovalchuk, acting director of the Odesa Fine Arts Museum, feared the worst: no water, no power, no exit.
The museum’s collection might come under fire, she worried, and so might her infant son, Yehor.
“The thought of having my son in that situation was unbearable,” said Kovalchuk, 37...Keep reading on MSN.