Oleksandr Dovzhenko National Film Studio director general Andriy Donchyk says the costume workshop was destroyed by a direct missile hit, with nothing left to save.
"It is impossible to assess these losses. This is also a historical value, because all the famous films are here — the costumes from Za dvoma zaitsyamy, the costumes from Propala hramota, the costumes from Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors. These are all unique costumes that we periodically exhibited in the museum, and we dreamed of staging a grand costume parade for the film studio’s centenary, but it happened as it happened," Donchyk said on the national telethon on Monday.
He said the costume workshop was destroyed by an enemy missile and it was impossible to save anything.
"The missile destroyed the entire building and a fire broke out. This was not debris but a direct hit. From the scale of destruction you can see that there was practically nothing to save," the director general added.
He also said that no building in the studio has intact windows, with vehicles and special film equipment belonging to the studio and contractors damaged.
At the same time, he hopes the film archive has been preserved, as there was no fire in that building, though it is currently inaccessible due to blocked doors.
The director general noted that assessing the damage will take at least a week, and that staff were not harmed in the attack.
Donchyk added that filming at the studio will not take place for now as restoration work begins.
Earlier, deputy prime minister for humanitarian policy and culture minister Tetiana Berezhna said the Russian shelling damaged the costume workshop and destroyed Ukraine’s largest and oldest costume collection, comprising around 100,000 costumes and 3 million items of various clothing. Other studio buildings were also damaged.
