<p>The dust has hardly settled. Not long ago Russian troops were bearing down on Ukraine's capital -- now the story of this chapter of the invasion is already being told in a museum.</p>.<p>Even as the war rages elsewhere in the country, Ukrainians are flocking to a new exhibition in Kyiv displaying artefacts recovered after the Russian army was forced to withdraw from areas it occupied around the capital.</p>.<p>Missiles, food rations, helmets and other objects abandoned in the region north of Kyiv are being shown in an exhibition at a World War II museum -- known as the "Great Patriotic War" in Ukraine.</p>.<p>Glass cases display personal notes and the credit cards of Russian soldiers killed on the front line in a vital early record of the bloodshed.</p>.<p>Their passports reveal how young they were. A smashed Siberian licence plate proves some came from far away.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/fierce-street-fighting-in-ukraines-sievierodonetsk-a-pivotal-battle-for-donbas-1115999.html" target="_blank">Fierce street fighting in Ukraine's Sievierodonetsk, a pivotal battle for Donbas</a></strong></p>.<p>There are also jars of halal borscht soup supplied to Muslim Chechen fighers enlisted by their leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a fierce Vladimir Putin loyalist.</p>.<p>Curator Yuriy Savchuk said he wanted "to respond to Russian propaganda", adding that Moscow has set up its own show "on the so-called fascism that should be fought in Ukraine.</p>.<p>"You can see and touch the war with your fingertips here," he added.</p>.<p>"That's also the point: to shock people into realising what's going on."</p>.<p>It might seem strange that Ukrainians should want a reminder of a war they are still living through. But not everyone in Ukraine witnessed the fighting first-hand -- and many want to understand what took place.</p>.<p>"It's actually really hard to look at this," said 26-year-old visitor Zoya Didok.</p>.<p>"It's a good thing I didn't live in one of those villages when the Russians were there."</p>.<p>In the museum's cellars, there's a reconstruction of a makeshift shelter from the town of Hostomel, close to Kyiv's airport. The original housed dozens of people for 37 days -- among them children and a six-month-old baby. Two people died in the humid, unsanitary conditions.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/ukraine-partially-repels-russian-black-sea-fleet-1115845.html" target="_blank">Ukraine partially repels Russian Black Sea fleet</a></strong></p>.<p>On a screen on the wall, the baby's mother gives chilling video testimony.</p>.<p>On the first floor, a church gate ripped open by shrapnel opens to reveal a room displaying artwork inspired by the conflict.</p>.<p>Ukrainian artists have also reused material from Russia's invasion to express their pain.</p>.<p>Burnt-out candles beneath a war-torn painting of Christ pay tribute to the dead, as well as to Ukraine's damaged religious heritage.</p>.<p>A grenade hidden under a toy in a sandpit recalls that the childhoods millions of young Ukrainians have lost.</p>.<p>There is also a broken World War II memorial from Hostomel, drawing a powerful parallel between the two conflicts. Today's invaders are the descendants of yesterday's heroes.</p>.<p>The exhibition, titled "Ukraine -- Crucifixion", is housed in the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War.</p>.<p>The artefacts were collected between April 4 and May 5 -- and the show's rapid opening on May 8 came with help from the Ukrainian army and government.</p>
<p>The dust has hardly settled. Not long ago Russian troops were bearing down on Ukraine's capital -- now the story of this chapter of the invasion is already being told in a museum.</p>.<p>Even as the war rages elsewhere in the country, Ukrainians are flocking to a new exhibition in Kyiv displaying artefacts recovered after the Russian army was forced to withdraw from areas it occupied around the capital.</p>.<p>Missiles, food rations, helmets and other objects abandoned in the region north of Kyiv are being shown in an exhibition at a World War II museum -- known as the "Great Patriotic War" in Ukraine.</p>.<p>Glass cases display personal notes and the credit cards of Russian soldiers killed on the front line in a vital early record of the bloodshed.</p>.<p>Their passports reveal how young they were. A smashed Siberian licence plate proves some came from far away.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/fierce-street-fighting-in-ukraines-sievierodonetsk-a-pivotal-battle-for-donbas-1115999.html" target="_blank">Fierce street fighting in Ukraine's Sievierodonetsk, a pivotal battle for Donbas</a></strong></p>.<p>There are also jars of halal borscht soup supplied to Muslim Chechen fighers enlisted by their leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a fierce Vladimir Putin loyalist.</p>.<p>Curator Yuriy Savchuk said he wanted "to respond to Russian propaganda", adding that Moscow has set up its own show "on the so-called fascism that should be fought in Ukraine.</p>.<p>"You can see and touch the war with your fingertips here," he added.</p>.<p>"That's also the point: to shock people into realising what's going on."</p>.<p>It might seem strange that Ukrainians should want a reminder of a war they are still living through. But not everyone in Ukraine witnessed the fighting first-hand -- and many want to understand what took place.</p>.<p>"It's actually really hard to look at this," said 26-year-old visitor Zoya Didok.</p>.<p>"It's a good thing I didn't live in one of those villages when the Russians were there."</p>.<p>In the museum's cellars, there's a reconstruction of a makeshift shelter from the town of Hostomel, close to Kyiv's airport. The original housed dozens of people for 37 days -- among them children and a six-month-old baby. Two people died in the humid, unsanitary conditions.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/ukraine-partially-repels-russian-black-sea-fleet-1115845.html" target="_blank">Ukraine partially repels Russian Black Sea fleet</a></strong></p>.<p>On a screen on the wall, the baby's mother gives chilling video testimony.</p>.<p>On the first floor, a church gate ripped open by shrapnel opens to reveal a room displaying artwork inspired by the conflict.</p>.<p>Ukrainian artists have also reused material from Russia's invasion to express their pain.</p>.<p>Burnt-out candles beneath a war-torn painting of Christ pay tribute to the dead, as well as to Ukraine's damaged religious heritage.</p>.<p>A grenade hidden under a toy in a sandpit recalls that the childhoods millions of young Ukrainians have lost.</p>.<p>There is also a broken World War II memorial from Hostomel, drawing a powerful parallel between the two conflicts. Today's invaders are the descendants of yesterday's heroes.</p>.<p>The exhibition, titled "Ukraine -- Crucifixion", is housed in the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War.</p>.<p>The artefacts were collected between April 4 and May 5 -- and the show's rapid opening on May 8 came with help from the Ukrainian army and government.</p>