Ukraine’s museums keep watch over priceless gold in bid to halt Russian looters

Ukraine’s museums keep watch over priceless gold in bid to halt Russian looters

Experts monitoring the loss of Scythian artefacts have been shocked at scale of theft by Putin’s forces

Fourth century BC golden ceremonial headgear from a Scythian king's burial mound in the Museum of Historical Treasures in Kyiv in September.
Fourth century BC golden ceremonial headgear from a Scythian king’s burial mound in the Museum of Historical Treasures in Kyiv in September. Photograph: Efrem Lukatsky/AP

The people the Greeks called Scythians were formidable warriors and nomads who dominated the Eurasian steppe for more than 1,000 years from about 800BC – long before the creation of national borders.

The fabulous gold weapons and ornaments they left behind ended up in museums across the region, many of them in Ukraine. Since Russian troops invaded Ukraine in February, however, much Scythian gold – along with millions of other priceless artefacts – has been looted or “evacuated”.

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