The city’s symbolic structures in Kharkiv, in the northwest of Ukraine, are being protected from Russian army attacks. Sandbags were used to cover the bronze monument dedicated to Taras Shevchenko, a poet and painter who is considered one of the most important figures in Ukrainian literature.

There are also famous paintings of Taras Shevchenko, who died in 1861 and left behind a significant body of work in Ukrainian literature.