Russian forces have reportedly fired on ancient Scythian tombs last week in the Kherson region amidst its ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry announced citing the Kherson Regional Inspection on the Protection of Cultural Heritage Objects.
The tombs are over 1,000 years old, according to weareukraine.info. According to the allegations, Russian forces arranged their positions to fire on the Scythian tombs.
The Scythians were a group of ancient tribes that lived in what is today Southern Siberia and were active for approximately 700 years from 900 BC to 200 BC, according to the British Museum. They were historically active in the Northern Black Sea.
The Scythians were also warriors, nomads and skilled archers, and even developed new weapons such as a new type of bow using just different wood layers and sinew, the museum said. They were also said to be close with their horses and were accomplished horseback riders.
When not fighting or horseback riding, Scythians were also tattooed and liked to drink excessively, which was important for "social bonding between individuals and tribes," the museum added.
The invaders are destroying thousand-year-old Scythian tombs in Kherson region by arranging firing positions on them – #Kherson Regional Inspection on the Protection of Cultural Heritage Objects informed.#WeAreUkraine https://t.co/TtHbI6yBko pic.twitter.com/hZj4213RlH
— MFA of Ukraine (@MFA_Ukraine) May 2, 2022
Inspectors of the bombed areas monitored the cultural objects, which are from the border of the Zaporizhzhia Obl to the border of the Mykolaiv region in southern Ukraine. The objects related to the Scythian's military history are intact, according to Ukrainian media.