Ukrainian museums fight to save Russian art from Russia.

"Our collection includes more than 25,000 items," said Marina Filatova, head of the foreign art department at the Kharkiv Museum of Art, adding that it is one of the most significant and most valuable in the country.

As Russian troops overturned the city with artillery and airstrikes, key staff at the museum in Kharkiv rushed to save priceless works of art, many from Russian artists. The majestic tower still stands, unlike some in Kharkiv, but the windows are blown in by the wind, plaster and dust cover the floors, and the surrounding streets are littered with rubble.

"Our collection includes more than 25,000 items," said Marina Filatova, head of the foreign art department at the Kharkiv Museum of Art, adding that it is one of the most significant and most valuable in the country. "It is ironic that we have to save Russian artists, paintings by Russian artists from their own country. It's just barbarism," he told Reuters on Wednesday. Millions across Ukraine have fled the fighting while many more are left behind.

Moscow launched so-called "special military operations" in Ukraine on February 24 to destroy the military capabilities of its neighbors and eliminate dangerous nationalists in Kyiv. 

Famous Russian artist Ilya Repin entitled "The Zaporozhian Cossack Response," which is removed from the wall ready for storage and must not be moved," says Filatova of the picture. "All movement must be avoided. Therefore, we handled it very carefully." He spoke in the cold, empty gallery, where some paintings still hung, and others leaned against the walls, waiting to be removed.

Filatova and her colleagues are assured that her collection, which includes works by German artist and engraver Albrecht Dürer and Dutch masters, remains intact. But with a broken window, it was impossible to control the temperature and humidity in the gallery.

 "We can only estimate the actual damage in peacetime when things are calm. "The workers, the women who are still in the city, we will work and do everything we can to save everyone. So we downloaded the paintings and hid them," Filatova said, without specifying where.