I will never leave you this debt

11 January 2024 Dr.. in Chernihiv Historical Museum. VV. Tarnovsky, the opening of the exhibition "I will never leave you this debt...". The exhibition is about war in real time, created during the war, which continues. The exhibition is about a tragedy and a feat, crime and mercy.

20 February 2014 the Russian army invaded Ukraine, the Russian-Ukrainian war began with the occupation of Crimea. In April, Russian troops crossed the eastern border of Ukraine and captured part of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Eight years later, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

24 February 2022 year, all of Ukraine woke up to the sounds of explosions: rockets fired at Ukrainian cities and villages; from the south, Russian troops advanced from the east and north. For every resident of Ukraine, and Chernihiv Oblast in particular, it's time to experience "your war", gaining experience of survival in the 21st century. Consciousness did not perceive reality as reality. "This cannot be..."

Columns of enemy equipment entered Chernihiv Oblast through Senkivka and Gremyach, were advancing from the territory of Sumy Oblast. The Armed Forces of Ukraine stopped the enemy near the regional center. Chernihiv was under siege. Населені пункти навколо міста почасти були окуповані й з них обстрілювали Чернігів; partly - were in the crossfire line. That is why suburban communities suffered heavy civilian casualties, significant destruction of infrastructure, mining of large areas.

The active phase of hostilities in Chernihiv Oblast continued 42 days and actually ended 6 April 2022 year, when control was established over the Chernihiv section of the state border of Ukraine.

The proposed exposition is devoted to the events of the full-scale war in Kiinska, Kyselivska and Novobilouska territorial communities. The exhibition focuses on people's stories, who found themselves in the bloody maelstrom of war, who had to preserve humanity in inhumane conditions. Thematically, the exhibition consists of two sections: 1) war crimes of the Russian Federation against the Ukrainian people; 2) the life of civilians in conditions of full-scale war, survival strategies.

The purpose of the exhibition project is to preserve the true picture of the war. Therefore, we tried to collect the testimony of as many respondents as possible. В експозиції представлені: original items, documents, фото, спогади, diaries, with the help of which we present the terrible realities of Russian aggression. Materials for the exhibition were collected during museum collecting expeditions.

The opening speech at the opening of the new temporary exhibition was delivered by Acting. director of the museum Maksym Blakytny. Project curators: Lesya Svitlovska and Svitlana Zemlyanska talked about the work on creating the exhibition. Deputy director Serhii Laevsky named the fallen Defenders of Ukraine, natives of communities. The audience honored their memory with a moment of silence. They spoke at the event: Head of the Chernihiv District Council Tetyana Kuznetsova-Molodchaya and Deputy Head of the Department of Culture and Tourism of the Chernihiv City Council Kateryna Lytvyn. Також, community representatives spoke: Andriy Golovach is the head of the Kyiv OTG, Alla Myronenko - the director of the Kyseliv Lyceum and Yuliya Illenko - the director of the communal institution "Centre of Cultural Services" of the Novobilou Village Council. Mykola Stelmakh, acting director of the enterprise, told about the resumption of the work of "Utex Ukraine" LLC (the enterprise was located in the village. Шестовиця, 28 February 2022 Dr.. was destroyed).

The museum is grateful for the help in the work on the project: community administrations, Main Office of the State Emergency Service in Chernihiv region, To the Department of Culture and Tourism of the Chernihiv City Council and our respondents.

Lesya Svitlovska, head of the scientific exhibition department