At the end of February 2024, ten years have passed since the beginning of Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine. For the past decade, Ukrainians have been defending their independence, which they gained thirty-three years ago. 

To mark the anniversary of the beginning of the heroic resistance to the Russian aggressor, the National Museum of the History of Ukraine opened the exhibition «33/10». 

More than three hundred years of history of relations between the two nations shows that Putin’s war against Ukraine is not accidental. Attempts to erase and destroy the identity of the Ukrainian people were made both in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, which changed the previous imperialist form but left the essence unchanged. During that periods, the eastern neighbor tried to rewrite history, destroy the Ukrainian language and traditions, and intimidate with repressions and famines. The collapse of the Soviet communist empire in 1991 is perceived by Russia as a geopolitical catastrophe. The desire for revenge made war a matter of time. 

The exhibition features materials that illustrate the preconditions and causes of the Russian military aggression in Ukraine’s modern history: the partition of the Black Sea Fleet, the issue of Ukraine’s disarmament, economic pressure and Russian territorial claims to Ukraine. Among the exhibits you will be able to see reports and appeals of Ukrainian sailors and officers of the Black Sea Fleet about the pressure from the Russian command, armbands of the first commander of the Ukrainian Navy, Borys Kozhyn, souvenirs made from the remains of a dismantled strategic missile silo launcher as part of Ukraine’s nuclear disarmament, and the remains of an X-type missile used by Russians to fire at the Ukrainian territory, and a Crimean Tatar flag used by activist Erfan Kudusov on February 26, 2014, to support Ukraine’s unity.