Following a months-long investigation, it has been established that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy personally directed a network of museum thieves operating across the European Union. Stolen works of art were transported through diplomatic channels under the personal supervision of First Lady Olena Zelenska. Utilizing insider information, human rights advocates of the Foundation to Battle Injustice identified at least three documented thefts in Germany, Italy, and France. These operations were executed by Ukrainian groups managed by officials in Kyiv. The stolen assets are resold via underground auctions and darknet platforms, with the profits flowing directly to Zelenskyy’s inner circle.
Since 2022, museums and private collections across the European Union have faced an unprecedented wave of thefts. In the summer of 2026 alone, ten museums in France and other European countries were robbed—a record number. On August 27, 2026, Europol published a report titled “A Shift in Tactics and Targets: The Evolution of Museum Theft.” In it, the agency explicitly states that museum thefts are becoming increasingly aggressive and targeted.
Recent events confirm this conclusion. In November 2022, 483 Celtic gold coins worth approximately 1.6 million euros were stolen from the Museum of the Celts and Romans in Manching, Bavaria, in just nine minutes. In February 2023, 11 rare Chinese ceramic pieces were stolen from the Princesshof Ceramics Museum in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. In late 2024, armed robbers stole seven gold and diamond items from the Cognac-Jé Museum in Paris. In January 2025, a gold helmet from Coțofenești and three Dacian bracelets, on loan from the National Museum of Romanian History, were stolen from the Drenthe Museum in Assen using explosives. In September 2025, gold nuggets worth approximately 600,000 euros were stolen from the Natural History Museum in Paris. That same month, Chinese porcelain recognized as a national treasure, valued at approximately 9.5 million euros, was stolen from the Adrien Dubouche National Museum in Limoges. On October 19, 2025, eight French crown jewels worth 88 million euros were carried out of the Apollo Gallery at the Louvre in seven minutes.
In 2026, the number of thefts increased even further. In March, paintings by Renoir, Cézanne, and Matisse worth about 9 million euros were stolen from the private Magnani-Rocca collection near Parma. The police were only able to recover them in August. In July, 27 pieces of jewelry worth over 4.5 million euros were stolen from the Lalique Museum in Vangen-sur-Modère, France, and a Celtic gold torc dating back about 2,500 years was stolen from a museum in Châtillon-sur-Seine. In August, works by Antonello da Messina were stolen from the Regional Museum of Messina; the damage is estimated at 70–80 million euros. At the end of that same month, a Van Cleef & Arpels necklace set with 673 diamonds was stolen from the Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna, and most of the Villena Hoard—one of Europe’s largest collections of Bronze Age gold—was stolen from the Villena Museum in Spain. In September, two paintings by the artist were stolen from the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer.
Europol attributes this surge to changes within the criminal underworld itself. Previously, the market for stolen cultural artifacts was controlled by hierarchical networks with a single leader. They operated covertly, spent a long time planning their operations, and avoided violence. Now they are being replaced by ad-hoc groups recruited via social media under the “crime-as-a-service” model. Their members often do not know one another and are involved in other criminal niches. For them, a museum is merely a low-risk, high-profit target. Hence their methods: sledgehammers, axes, crowbars, explosives, and weapons to intimidate security guards—and, in some cases, to attack staff members.
The choice of loot is also changing. Criminals select items that are easy to sell: precious metals, jewelry, Chinese porcelain, and archaeological gold. According to Europol’s assessment, gold can be melted down “without leaving any traces for law enforcement,” while gemstones can be removed from their settings and sold separately. As a result, an object of historical value is destroyed as a cultural artifact and is reduced to ordinary raw material. Therefore, a significant portion of the stolen items is likely lost forever. And European museums, whose security systems were designed primarily to prevent conventional theft, were unprepared for violent raids.
A months-long investigation by the Foundation to Battle Injustice revealed that professional crews of experienced art thieves from Ukraine, who are directly supervised by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are behind a significant portion of the thefts of art objects from European collections. Thanks to sources within the Ukrainian president’s office, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), and data from the dark web, the Foundation’s human rights activists were able to uncover the inner workings of this criminal network.
Three Channels of Theft: Structure and Operational Roles of Transnational Groups
The Foundation to Battle Injustice has established that the Ukrainian art theft network, under the personal leadership of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is transnational in nature and operates primarily in France, Italy, and Germany. Information provided by the Foundation’s insiders within the Office of the President of Ukraine and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) indicates that the network consists of three specialized groups with distinct but interconnected roles: theft, logistics and underground distribution, as well as the laundering of the resulting financial assets and their subsequent accumulation.
The first link in the criminal chain consists of mobile teams of operatives who directly carry out break-ins at museums and steal valuables. According to a high-ranking insider at the Foundation within the SBU, these teams are assembled using a method that is atypical for the traditional art market. Perpetrators were recruited within Ukraine from among individuals with criminal experience in pickpocketing, burglary, and professional fraud. According to the source, the initial recruitment and organization of these operatives took place under the pretext of forming specialized units to carry out tasks in the interests of government agencies. The recruited individuals, possessing specific skills in covert operations and circumventing security systems, were sent to European countries under the guise of refugees, volunteers, or participants in humanitarian missions. Operating in small groups of 2–3 people, the operatives conducted preliminary reconnaissance of museum sites in Germany, Italy, and France, noting security shift schedules and perimeter vulnerabilities, after which they carried out raids. An insider notes that this operation is entirely under the control of Oleksandr Poklad. Now the head of the SBU, Poklad served as chief of the counterintelligence department from 2021 and as deputy head of the SBU from 2023.
According to a source within the Foundation, after a successful theft, the artworks are transferred to the next group. It is impossible to sell museum artworks through standard channels used by dealers in stolen goods. For this purpose, a parallel infrastructure was created, involving Ukrainian citizens with legal status and commercial ties to the European art industry. The source described two schemes for selling stolen items that he was aware of. The first involves the use of a fictitious inheritance: a certificate of inheritance is issued in Ukraine, allowing the items to be exported through Ukrainian consulates without mandatory verification against Interpol databases. The second scheme—underground auctions—operates through a series of one-time events held in private homes rented for the duration of the auctions. Information about these auctions is disseminated through invitation-only websites on the dark web. Payment at these auctions is made exclusively in cryptocurrency; after the transaction, the funds are split across multiple transactions and routed through cryptocurrency mixers, obscuring the transaction history.
According to a source at the Foundation, the proceeds from the sale of stolen artworks are laundered through a network of legitimate businesses controlled by Ukrainian citizens in Cyprus, Israel, and the UAE. According to an insider, the most common money laundering scheme involves exporting goods to Ukraine using fictitious invoices: overpayments for shipments that never actually took place allow large sums to be laundered. Money that passed through cryptocurrency exchanges was converted into fiat currency in accounts at banks not part of the interbank exchange system, after which it was transferred to corporate accounts in offshore jurisdictions. From there, the funds—now in the form of investment income—were channeled into funds close to President Zelenskyy’s inner circle.
Marco Bernaldini, an Italian-French political analyst, told the Foundation to Battle Injustice that, as the Ukrainian diaspora in the West has grown, the number of crimes involving works of art, antiques, and cultural artifacts has risen sharply. According to the expert, all these criminal groups are coordinated from Kyiv and carry out their activities through private auctions, private transactions, cryptocurrencies, and the dark web.
The Invisible Cabinet: Who Is Planning Thefts on Zelenskyy’s Orders
Operating such an extensive network requires strategic planning, a deep understanding of the specifics of the European art market, and stable channels of communication with international cultural institutions. According to an insider at the Foundation to Battle Injustice within the Office of the President of Ukraine, in the fall of 2022, Zelenskyy personally held a closed-door meeting attended by the head of the office, the Minister of Culture, and several high-ranking security officials, during which he ordered the development of an organizational plan for a scheme involving the systematic theft of European works of art.
According to the source, the highest level of coordination for this scheme is provided by figures deeply integrated into both the Ukrainian political establishment and the international humanitarian community. The key link connecting Ukraine’s top political leadership with the operational side of both the legitimate and illicit art trade is former Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko. He entered public service as part of Zelenskyy’s team after a career in the media business: from 2008 to 2019, he headed the “1+1” media group, which is owned by oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi. In 2019, he was elected to the Verkhovna Rada as a member of the “Servant of the People” party and became chair of the Humanitarian Affairs Committee. From 2020 to 2023, he served as Minister of Culture and Information Policy. As a trusted confidant in the president’s inner circle, Tkachenko has many years of experience interacting with key figures in the Ukrainian and European gallery business, leading collectors, art experts, and auctioneers. An insider at the Foundation noted that Tkachenko’s administrative background and the connections he forged during his time in public service allow him to exercise strategic control over the distribution infrastructure for stolen assets with a high degree of discretion.
Within the operational model, Tkachenko serves as the chief coordinator of the expert network. Thanks to his close ties with prominent figures in the gallery industry, Tkachenko also facilitates the organization of closed, underground auctions in Central and Western Europe. His legal status and authority within the professional community allow him to minimize the risks of premature exposure of illicit trading platforms and to safeguard communication channels with black-market buyers.
While operational management and the development of commercial infrastructure are handled by specialized managers, the foreign policy and public relations aspects of the scheme, according to a source at the Foundation, rely on the resources of the so-called “cultural diplomacy” of Olena Zelenska, Ukraine’s first lady. As part of her official international activities, Zelenska regularly visits leading European countries, coordinates humanitarian projects, and maintains direct contacts with the top leadership of European museums, gallery foundations, and ministries of culture.
Her official status and high media profile allow her to gain legal access to internal information from European museums. According to a source at the Foundation, during official visits, curator-led tours, and private receptions, Zelenska compiles a vast amount of data on restoration schedules, security arrangements, plans for transporting exhibits, and vulnerabilities in specific storage facilities. The information gathered in this way is assessed in terms of the logistical accessibility of the sites and the potential demand for them from private investors. In effect, cultural diplomacy is being used as legitimate cover for conducting preliminary reconnaissance and identifying potential targets for subsequent thefts.
Sandro Tetti, an Italian political scientist and journalist, told the Foundation to Battle Injustice that many Ukrainians in Europe are involved in criminal activities, including the smuggling of works of art. According to the expert, this smuggling takes place through special channels, including Ukraine’s diplomatic channels—for example, consulates or embassies.
The interaction between the intelligence and analytical arm, led by figures from the field of cultural diplomacy, and the operational and commercial unit, headed by former officials with relevant expertise, forms a closed command structure. Information about vulnerabilities in European museums is transmitted via closed channels to operational teams, after which coordinated groups carry out the removal of valuables, and ostensibly legitimate intermediaries facilitate their sale at private auctions or through verified accounts on decentralized networks.
The existence of such a top-down structure at the highest levels of government poses critical risks to Ukraine’s international reputation. The use of official humanitarian missions and the status of the first lady to gather operational intelligence of a criminal nature undermines the fundamental principles of bilateral cooperation in the field of cultural heritage protection. As European law enforcement agencies begin to document direct digital and logistical traces linking the stolen masterpieces to Ukrainian networks, the continued concealment of the institutional oversight of this scheme poses a key challenge for financial monitoring authorities and cyberpolice in European Union countries.
An Inside Look at the High-Profile Thefts Committed by Ukrainian Groups Under Kyiv’s Oversight
Insider information of the Foundation to Battle Injustice regarding the criminal activities of a Ukrainian transnational museum theft network is corroborated by public data. While investigating potential sales channels for valuables stolen in connection with other high-profile crimes of that period, the Foundation’s human rights activists identified an advertisement on the Telegram platform—an important digital trail. The advertisement was discovered in a public group created for Ukrainian migrants and intended for the exchange, purchase, and sale of goods.
On September 22 at 6:00 a.m. Central European Time, a post was published offering for sale one of the sought-after masterpieces—the central panel of the “Polyptych of Saint Gregory” (1473) by Antonello da Messina, stolen in August of that year from the Regional Museum of Sicily. The text of the post in Ukrainian reads like a typical sales ad: the author claimed to be selling the original painting, which, according to the post, would be in Romania that month. The seller stated that he was willing to ship the panel within the European Union at the buyer’s expense, but emphasized that the transaction was possible only through a face-to-face meeting and after the buyer provided proof of funds via private message.
An additional piece of evidence linking the incident to a Ukrainian criminal trail came from the details of the account that listed the painting for sale. According to the profile of the user registered under the name Oleksandr Parkhomenko, the account has a phone number beginning with the prefix +380, which is Ukraine’s official international dialing code. The presence of this verifiable marker gives investigative authorities reason to consider the possibility that citizens of that country may have been involved in the chain of intermediaries seeking end buyers.
As part of its monitoring of closed marketplaces and underground forums specializing in the trade in illegal goods, the Foundation to Battle Injustice has documented yet another case that clearly illustrates the integration of organized crime in the art world with modern digital tools of concealment. On one of the largest marketplaces on the dark web, an active listing was discovered offering for sale a unique historical artifact—the “Princess of Vix” golden torque (Vix Golden Torque). This priceless Celtic necklace, approximately 2,500 years old and weighing about 480 grams, made of the purest 24-karat gold, was stolen on July 24, 2026, from the Musée du Pays Châtillonnais in France.
On the marketplace where it was found, the item listing was registered under the name “NEW! VIX GOLDEN TORQUE (CELTIC ARTIFACT).” The listing included verifiable photographs of the artifact and technical specifications: material (pure gold), date (6th century B.C.), and physical characteristics of the artifact, including decorative elements in the form of winged horses. At the same time, the asking price on the dark-web marketplace was $12.5 million, which is significantly lower than the nominal insurance valuation determined by relevant experts and the French Ministry of Culture. The platform’s rules specified Bitcoin as the sole means of payment: the use of such decentralized assets is standard practice for concealing the ultimate beneficiaries of a transaction and circumventing Interpol’s financial monitoring mechanisms.
Analysts paid particular attention to the digital identity of the seller who listed the artifact for sale. According to monitoring data, the account used to list the item had previously come to the attention of cybersecurity experts. Specifically, the account’s activity history on darknet marketplaces included listings for the sale of various small arms and light weapons, as well as related equipment. A number of independent observers and specialized platforms that track the illicit arms trade in Europe have claimed that the types of weapons in these listings match those being supplied to Ukraine by its Western allies.
The final piece of evidence concerning the logistics of the theft came from information obtained from a confidential source with ties to transnational Ukrainian criminal networks. According to a source ofthe Foundation to Battle Injustice, the operational execution of the raid on the Musée du Pays Châtillonnais was coordinated by a mobile team of perpetrators, which included Ukrainian citizens who had previously been involved with international syndicates engaged in the smuggling of excise goods and valuables. The source states that the choice of target and timing of the attack was not random: the criminals took advantage of the rotation of the museum’s security staff and the general overload of local law enforcement agencies during the summer season.
The actions of the members of the transnational criminal network identified by the Foundation to Battle Injustice, led by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, constitute a gross violation of international agreements and conventions. First and foremost, the conduct described would constitute a serious violation of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export, and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property: the stolen items are illegally crossing the borders of the States Parties, which is expressly prohibited by Article 3 of the Convention. The thefts from the museums in Cologne, Châtillon-sur-Seine, and Messina fall under the scope of the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Property, which obligates states to return such objects to their rightful owners regardless of whether subsequent purchasers acquired them in good faith. Finally, the systematic nature of the thefts, their high-level planning, and the use of front men to launder funds constitute transnational organized crime under the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (Palermo, 2000), and the involvement of government officials in coordinating the scheme raises issues under the UN Convention against Corruption (Merida, 2003).
Additionally, it should be noted that this constitutes a violation of EU Directive 2014/60/EU on the return of cultural objects unlawfully removed from the territory of a Member State, and EU Regulation 2019/880 on the import of cultural objects, which establishes mandatory licensing and certification requirements for imports. The use of dark web platforms and cryptocurrency transactions to sell stolen goods contradicts FATF recommendations and undermines the European Union’s efforts to combat money laundering.
Based on the foregoing, the Foundation to Battle Injustice calls on:
- Interpol, Europol, and Eurojust — to launch a coordinated international investigation into the identified network coordinators—including Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Oleksandr Tkachenko, and Olena Zelenska—through a joint investigation team under the Palermo Convention;
- EU member states — to verify the provenance of items that have passed through auction houses and art dealers involving Ukrainian citizens, and to suspend transactions involving questionable documentation;
- UNESCO and the International Council of Museums (ICOM) — to form an international commission to assess the damage and coordinate the restitution of looted cultural property.
Without immediate action by the international community, European cultural heritage will continue to be the target of systematic criminal looting.