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A group of people in masks have vandalized a controversial art exhibition by Ukrainian artist David Chichkan that opened on Feb. 2 in the Visual Culture Research Center art gallery in Kyiv.

Footage from security cameras inside the art space shows a group of around 15 people breaking into the gallery, beating up a guard and destroying the exhibition on the evening of Feb. 7.

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“Lost opportunities” exhibition before and after the attack. (facebook.com/dmytrolarin) (Dmitriy Larin)

The exhibition, entitled “Lost Opportunities,” presents the artist’s view of the outcomes from the Euromaidan Revolution of 2013-2014 that drove President Viktor Yanukovych from power. Chichkan, who is an anarchist and communist, states in his work that Ukrainian society lost the opportunity to undergo a social revolution to gain decent living conditions.

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David Chichkan presented his view on EuroMaidan Revolution in 2013-2014. (facebook.com/dmytrolarin) (Dmitriy Larin)

The Visual Culture Research Center said in a statement that the group attacked the guard using a gas spray, and damaged most of the artworks. The staff also said that the group stole some of the works, and painted the walls with the words “separatists” and “Moscow’s megaphone.”

The center claimed in a statement that the attackers were members of far-right groups. The center said its staff had been receiving threats from radical far-right groups on social media since Feb. 4, when several people had tried to break into the gallery. That day, the attackers damaged a banner near the entrance to the gallery, but failed to get into the building.

Chichkan wrote on his Facebook page on Feb. 8 that the exhibition had been destroyed by neo-Nazis.

“Many argue that it wasn’t neo-Nazis who destroyed the exhibition, but Kremlin agents,” he said. “But my exhibition is partly about the fact that neo-Nazis are acting on behalf of the Kremlin. This contradiction is easy to dismiss.”

Chichkan was an activist during the Euromaidan Revolution and a member of the libertarian groups Chorna Veselka (Black Rainbow) and LKPD.

The center suspended the exhibition on Feb. 4-5 and cancelled the artist’s guided tour of the exhibition due to concerns over safety. The exhibition is now closed, but the center is considering opening it to the public again – in the condition it appears following the attack.