Massive strike on Kyiv: fire at Dovzhenko Film Studio has destroyed unique collection of costumes. PHOTO

The Oleksandr Dovzhenko National Film Studio — one of Ukraine’s oldest film studios — has been damaged in a Russian attack in Kyiv. According to preliminary reports, the shelling caused a fire.

As reported by Censor.NET, this was announced by Ukraine’s Minister of Culture Tetiana Berezhna.

"Another extremely grave crime by the Russians against Ukrainian culture. Russia has attacked the Oleksandr Dovzhenko National Film Studio in Kyiv. One of Ukraine’s oldest film studios," the statement reads.

According to her, the attack damaged the costume workshop and destroyed the country’s largest and oldest costume collection. The studio’s premises housed around 100,000 costumes and over three million items of clothing. Other buildings and structures at the film studio were also damaged.

Rescue and emergency services are working at the scene, and efforts are underway to deal with the aftermath of the attack and ensure safety.

Berezhna emphasised that Russia continues to attack not only civilian infrastructure and the civilian population, but also cultural institutions.

"Russia continues to deliberately target not only civilian infrastructure and civilians, but also cultural institutions that preserve Ukrainian identity, memory and history.

The destruction of cultural centres is an attempt to strike at the memory, history and identity of the Ukrainian people," Berezhna emphasised.