An antique religious icon from Leonid Marushchak’s personal collection. Along with a motley crew of drivers and helpers, Marushchak has been working tirelessly – and dangerously – to retrieve and evacuate works of art from museums and cultural centres across eastern Ukraine before Russian forces have the chance to loot them. From modern ceramics to 17th-century paintings, Marushchak and co have gathered tens of thousands of works and whisked them away to safe (and secret) locations away from the front lines of the war.

From left: Leonid Marushchak, Yevhen Sternichuk and Marharita Kravchenko with the van they used to retrieve countless artworks before it was nearly destroyed in a drone attack in the Kherson region.

Diana Berg, a Ukrainian artist, cultural manager and activist, who has supported her friend Marushchak’s efforts to rescue Ukraine’s cultural heritage. She is photographed with banners used in Pride and pro-Ukrainian marches and demos in Mariupol, the city she fled when it was besieged in 2022.

A detail of an artwork from Marushchak’s personal collection. He has organised the evacuation of dozens of museums across Ukraine’s frontline – packing, recording, logging and counting each item and sending them to secret, secure locations away from the combat zone

‘You acknowledge to yourself you might die. But it’s too early for me – I have cats at home that need looking after’ … Marharita Kravchenko, a driver who has worked with Marushchak on evacuating art from some of Ukraine’s most dangerous hotspots.

Arif Bagirov, originally from Sievierodonetsk, which is now occupied by Russia, in Kyiv.

Zhanna Kadyrova, a Ukrainian artist, at her studio in Kyiv, showing one of her works from a series titled Anxiety, a traditional found embroidery with the Ukrainian for ‘air raid alert’ stitched over it. ‘He works 24/7,’ she said of Marushchak. ‘Even the most resilient person has his limits.’

Medieval sculptures known as babas stand on Mount Kremenets overlooking Izium in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region. One was damaged during Russia’s occupation of the area in 2022. Marushchak has since arranged the removal and safe storage of these and many similar sculptures across eastern and southern Ukraine.

Kateryna Chuyeva, former deputy minister of culture, and a friend and collaborator of Marushchak’s. The importance of the small regional museums that he has helped safeguard is incalculable, Chuyeva said, especially in the light of the losses that Ukraine has suffered to its culture over the centuries. ‘We have so many gaps, we have so many lost objects and documents and traditions, that we just cannot go in this way any more. We have to stop it, we have to protect what we do have.’

Marushchak at his apartment in Kyiv with works from his personal collection.

More pieces from Marushchak’s personal collection.

A room at the Lysychansk Local History Museum before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In the foreground is part of an installation by Mykhailo Alekseenko, which features a table elaborately laid with glassware. It was later rescued and taken away for safe storage by Marushchak and his team.

More detail of an installation by Mykhailo Alekseenko in Lysychansk, featuring a fur coat that belonged to the artist’s grandmother.