Prime Minister Edi Rama, on a visit to Ukraine at the invitation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Wednesday toured the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War, a memorial complex commemorating the German-Soviet war in Kiev. The National Museum of History is one of Ukraine’s largest museum complexes with over 300,000 exhibits centred on the 62-meter tall Motherland statue, one of Kiev’s most remarkable and famous landmarks.

The Museum now houses a newly-launched exhibition, showcasing artefacts and captured warfare hardware and objects during the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, with fighting raging on in the areas currently occupied by Russian troops. This is the first exhibition of its kind, documenting the dramatic war evidence and the grave consequences for the Ukrainian people.

The exhibition features installations and displays of various objects and relics, personal items of both the civilians and soldiers and military hardware left behind by the Russian forces. A rare composition is dedicated to the children who have lost their lives during this war, one of the most painful and sad corners of this museum.

“I very much hope that the world will stop this horror and that Ukraine will emerge stronger and reborn from it,” PM Rama wrote on the museum’s guest book.

The National History Museum is not the only one struggling to document and preserve the country’s cultural heritage. Museums and archives throughout the country have been trying to preserve the artefacts and documents representing history of Ukraine since the war started earlier this year.