MANIPULATION: The Russian Empire and the USSR developed Ukraine, while independent Ukraine created nothing in architecture and culture

A fragment of Oleksii Arestovych’s broadcast with Russian journalist Yulia Latynina is being shared online. In it, Arestovych claims that the “empire” (the Russian Empire and the USSR) built many things in Ukraine, including the Kyiv and Odesa Opera Houses, the Vernadsky National Library, and others. Meanwhile, Ukraine has allegedly done nothing in 33 years of independence.

Built during the imperial era ≠ built by the empire

First of all, “built during the imperial era” and “built by the empire” are not the same, so some of the examples listed are incorrect. For instance, the Odesa Opera House was built according to a design by Austrian architects Johann Franz Fellner and Herman Helmer, with local Odesa craftsmen later refining the plan. The building is designed in the Viennese Baroque style, and the auditorium’s architecture reflects the late French Rococo style.

1.5 million rubles in gold — a large sum at the time — were allocated for construction. But the funds were not taken from the Russian Empire’s budget; they came from the city treasury (construction was insisted upon by philanthropist Hryhorii Marazli, the city mayor) and from patrons: it is known that Count Mykhailo Tolstoy donated 80% of the amount.

At the same time, the example of the Odesa Opera House shows that the claim that Ukraine has done nothing to develop its cities during independence is false. From 1996 to 2007, the building underwent extensive reconstruction, during which the foundation was significantly reinforced, the façade, roof, and technical equipment were updated, thereby improving its functionality and compliance with modern standards.

Empires that destroyed more than they built. 

Although both imperial and Soviet authorities indeed built many structures on Ukraine’s territory, these regimes also systematically destroyed Ukrainian heritage. Often, they built on top of previously demolished cultural assets, attempting to erase what was Ukrainian by replacing it with Russian or Soviet.

The imperial policy of Russification severely restricted the development of the Ukrainian language, culture, and education. For example, the Valuev Circular of 1863 banned the printing of most Ukrainian books, and the Ems Ukaz of 1876 prohibited the import, printing, or translation of any works in the Ukrainian language. This led to the near-complete halt of Ukrainian publishing and theatrical life. Overall, during the existence of the Russian and Soviet empires, more than 200 directives were issued to eradicate everything Ukrainian.

During the Soviet period, Ukrainian cultural institutions were also dismantled, museums and libraries were closed, monuments and architectural heritage were destroyed. In the 1930s, the St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery in Kyiv was demolished, and authorities attempted to tear down Saint Sophia Cathedral — administrative buildings were planned for the site. The destruction of the cathedral was prevented only due to pressure from foreign diplomats. Many internal decorations of the churches were taken to the territory of the RSFSR, and valuables and gilding were seized. Closed churches and other architectural monuments were often neglected and converted into utilitarian spaces such as warehouses and hospitals. For example, Pidhirtsi Castle in Lviv Oblast was turned into a tuberculosis sanatorium in the 1950s, and Olyka Castle in Volyn Oblast became a psychiatric hospital.

These actions were accompanied by repression against cultural figures, arrests, and deportations. The Great Terror of the 1930s effectively destroyed the Ukrainian intelligentsia — about 30,000 artists, writers, scientists, and cultural figures became victims of Soviet repressions. The largest mass execution took place in the Sandarmokh forest, where Ukrainian directors, writers, and poets such as Les Kurbas, Mykola Kulish, Valerian Pidmohylnyi, and many others were executed.

Thus, while building theaters, universities, and libraries, imperial and Soviet authorities simultaneously destroyed the people who could have filled these buildings with art — actors, directors, writers — destroying Ukrainian culture itself.