Oleksandra Sukhareva and Kyrylo Savchenko, artists who were supposed to represent Russia on 59th Venice Biennale refused to participate. The statement was made by the artists in a joint Facebook post: "There is no place for art when civilians are dying under shelling when citizens of Ukraine are hiding in bomb shelters and protesters in Russia are being silenced. As a person who was born in Russia, I will not exhibit my work in the Russian pavilion at Venice Biennale."
The artists’ decision was supported by the curator of the Russian pavilion, Raimundas Malašauskas. He announced on social media that he is leaving the position of the pavilion’s curator. In his statement, Malašauskas is expressing his solidarity with the artists. At the same time, he urged «to not discriminate and not isolate Russian citizens because of the totalitarian politics and actions of their state».
During the Russian attack on the town of Ivankiv, Kyiv Region, the local history museum with a collection of about 25 paintings by Maria Prymachenko burned down.