The bust of Roman Shukhevych, which was retrieved from the rubble of the museum destroyed after the Russian drone attack, was actually transferred to the funds of the Lviv Historical Museum. The story about the man who allegedly took the bust to the scrap yard is completely made up.
A story is spreading in social networks and pro-Kremlin resources that the Ukrainian Security Service detained an offender who sold a bronze bust of Roman Shukhevych to the scrap yard for 2,300 hryvnias. It was allegedly the sculpture by Mykhailo Chereshniovskyi, which survived after the Russian drone fragments hit the Roman Shukhevych Memorial Museum on January 1st. According to propaganda sources, the man told the security service that he did not recognize the political figure, because he studied at a school back in the USSR.By the time he was arrested, the bust had already been allegedly destroyed, and therefore both the scrap yard employees and the offender himself were served drafting papers. None of the publications contain links to the news source.
This story is completely made up. The Lviv Historical Museum, a department of which is the Shukhevych Museum, reported on the rescue of the sculpture from the rubble. It has suffered only minor damage as a result of the attack. The head of the Lviv Military Administration Maksym Kozytskyi added that the bust was transferred to be safely stored in the museum’s funds.
Moreover, the photo, which allegedly shows the detained Lviv man, is actually taken from the website of the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office. Back in May 2023, they used it to illustrate the news about the arrest of a man who committed financial fraud under the guise of transporting people from hot spots in the Kharkiv region and delivering humanitarian aid.
The end of the story, in which the offender receives drafting papers, is already traditional for propaganda fakes about the mobilization process in Ukraine. Read the debunking of a similar narrative in the article Fake: Man in Bila Tserkva Killed While Being Served Drafting Papers.
