The entrance to the museum.<\/span> Photograph: Omer Messinger\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe only museum of its kind in the world outside Ukraine, and privately funded, it will remain for at least as long as the war lasts, he says. \u201cEvery anniversary is one too many.\u201d<\/p>\n
Giebel and his fellow curator Enno Lenze founded the Berlin Story Bunker, which holds historical event exhibitions, in 2014. Built in 1942, it was so solidly constructed that it remains an indestructible part of the cityscape.<\/p>\n
The men travel regularly to Ukraine, delivering aid and equipment, including bullet-proof vests for children, and bring back new objects and pieces of information for the museum.<\/p>\n
One such item, placed at the centre of the museum, is a silver-grey Fiat Scudo with shattered windscreen, a large tear in its roof and blood-spattered seats. It had served as a \u201csocial taxi\u201d evacuating elderly people in Kherson, and delivered children to hospitals before a Russian drone hit it in April 2025.<\/p>\n
Footage from the Russian drone recorded before the impact, which was traced on a Russian Telegram channel by Ukrainian intelligence, shows how the van was deliberately targeted, killing Oleg Salnyk, a 28-year-old aid worker. His bloodied face was used in the resulting Russian propaganda footage, marked with red lines.<\/p>\nThe remains of the Fiat Scudo \u2018social taxi\u2019.<\/span> Photograph: Ralf Hirschberger\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHis friend and colleague Oleg Degusarov, who was also in the van, survived the attack, but has shrapnel lodged in his neck.<\/p>\n
Twenty Russian drones collected with the help of Ukraine\u2019s military hang from the ceiling of the museum. They include the Molniya, the cheapest, built for about \u20ac100 (\u00a387) using common items such as duct tape, poles and a disposable camera, which have been used to drop grenades and kill civilians.<\/p>\nThe largest missile in the exhibition has been reconstructed in eight parts by a 3D printer \u201cas we were not allowed to import the original\u201d, Lenze says. He wanted to show \u201cjust how big a cruise missile is when it\u2019s flying towards you\u201d.<\/p>\n
It is flanked by a large photograph of the block of flats in Kyiv that was badly damaged by the original missile. The former TV anchor turned frontline reporter Roman Sukhan, who has contributed to the exhibition, explains that the missile killed a friend of his, a doctor who lived in the flats.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe war is always very close,\u201d he says. He would like to think the exhibition will also bring home to Germans \u201cjust what a threat Putin poses to everyone\u201d.<\/p>\n
Germany is one of Kyiv\u2019s biggest suppliers of weapons, a key supporter diplomatically and hosts about 1.3 million Ukrainian refugees, but division over the extent to which the German taxpayer should continue to fund arms deliveries is rife.<\/p>\n
The curators admit they are not neutral in warning of jeopardy over the rise in support that Russia-friendly parties are receiving. Their exhibition also points unforgivingly to a range of Putin apologists amongst the political elite, highlighting the \u201cdangerous\u201d role they have played and continue to play in public debate by downplaying the threat posed by the Russian president. \u201cHelp or be an arsehole\u201d is one of the slogans on the wall.<\/p>\n
Lenze and Giebel are not ones for subtle gestures. They were celebrated for persuading erstwhile reluctant authorities to let them place the wreck of a Russian T72 tank in front of the Russian embassy in Berlin on the first anniversary of the invasion in 2023, which had been towed from the outskirts of Kyiv.<\/p>\n
Hanna Maliar, a former Ukrainian deputy defence minister until 2023 who assisted the museum, said: \u201cMy advice to Germany is whatever you do, don\u2019t get rid of your bunkers.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
#living #moving #exhibition #Ukraine #Museum #opens #Berlin #airraid #bunker #Germany<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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