“In Kherson, cultural institutions mainly suffer from looting”

In the last publication, MK touched upon the problem of preserving the cultural infrastructure of the Kherson region, a significant part of which was flooded as a result of the destruction of the dam of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station. Then, its director Valery Sheludko (who was evacuated with his colleagues after the withdrawal of the Russian army from Kherson) told our publication about the fate of the building of the Kherson Russian Music and Drama Theater. Continuing the burning topic, our correspondent talked with the first deputy minister of culture of the region Artem Lagoisky.

– Which of the cities suffered from the arrival of “big water”, if we talk about the territory of the Kherson region, controlled by Russia?

– Flooding led to the flooding of cities such as Novaya Kakhovka, Alyoshki and Golaya Pristan – along with municipal districts. The largest of them is Novokahovsky. But the fact is that Novaya Kakhovka was flooded “softly” – I mean that the water level there rose smoothly, reached a serious level, but there was no destructive wave. So Oleshki suffered more, they found themselves in the epicenter of an emergency, and on the way to the Naked Pristan, the water was on the decline – the picture is something like this.

– Were cultural institutions evacuated from this part of the region?

– Cultural institutions, as well as educational institutions, have not worked there since our retreat to the Left Bank, because these three settlements were in the zone of active hostilities. These cities are on the Dnieper, that is, in fact, they are on the front line. There were no cultural workers there, no special values ​​either. What happened was evacuated in autumn and winter.

– It turns out that only the buildings were damaged?

Yes, only them. Every city has a recreation center, libraries, music schools in Nova Kakhovka and Aleshki. But the water had already receded, the buildings were not destroyed, and it was necessary to do repairs in them anyway. Therefore, I can not say that some irreparable damage has been done. Now we are concentrating on disinfection in these institutions.

Of course, we estimated the damage – it amounted to about 500 million rubles. In principle, quite lifting money – for the future, when the front moves and we return to Kherson. We’ll be back and fix everything. The main thing is that people return, so that there is someone for whom to restore it.

– Is the ministry monitoring the situation in the part of the Kherson region currently held by the Ukrainian army?

– The Ministry of Culture Kherson and the entire territory of the region on the right bank considers, of course, ours, we know about all the trends and all the events. A lot of people live in Kherson who support Russia, but were unable to leave for some everyday, everyday reasons. They are waiting for our return – from them we get all the information we need.

– So you have information about the situation in Kherson? In addition to the music drama building, what else has survived there?

– In Kherson itself, the infrastructure associated with our department is practically not affected by water. In the area of ​​the river port, on one of the streets located in the valley, there was a building of the old school of culture and arts – the building of the 19th century was flooded. But even there the damage is not critical – we will return, disinfect, repair.

In Kherson, cultural institutions are mostly affected by the looting that the city is engulfed in, and not by floods or anything else.

– In which city is the Ministry of Culture and other authorities of the Kherson region located?

– In Genichesk. This is a city on the Sea of ​​Azov, it is the most distant from the line of contact. The disaster did not affect us in any way, but as a result of the so-called “counter-offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine”, there were several attacks on the Arabat Spit and the village of Novoalekseevka. Long-range missiles Storm Shadow, handed over to Kyiv, “get it” there. The local population here became anxious, they did not hear this, but we, Kherson residents, are not particularly frightened by this – we are working, one might say, everything is in order.