Ukraine’s culture minister announced his resignation today after “misunderstandings” over the use of public funds for cultural purposes as Kiev tries to repel an invasion by Russia’s military.

“I submitted my letter of resignation (last Thursday) evening, due to a wave of misunderstandings regarding the importance of culture in wartime,” Oleksandr Tkachenko said via Telegram.

“During war, private and public funds for culture are no less important than those for drones, because culture is a shield of our identity and our borders,” he added, without elaborating on the reasons that prompted him to submit his resignation.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky demanded earlier last night that the minister be replaced, criticizing the use of state budget resources for cultural purposes at the expense of national defense.

“In a time of war like this, the maximum attention of the state, and therefore the resources of the state, must be devoted to defense,” Mr. Zelensky stressed during his daily evening speech.

“Museums, cultural centers, monuments, TV series — all these are important, but now there are other priorities. Find out-of-budget funds. No state funds,” he added, clarifying that he had asked his prime minister, Dennis Schmihal, to replace Mr. Tkachenko.

The online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda reported yesterday that the Ministry of Culture decided to allocate 448 million hryvnias (almost 11 million euros) for the production of TV series.

Moreover, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), the outgoing culture minister defended the idea of ​​allocating 500 million hryvnias (€12 million) to complete the construction of the national museum of the “Holondom genocide”.

The famine that broke out in the early 1930s in Ukraine, blamed by historians on the leadership of the then Soviet Union, resulted in the loss of millions of lives. Other historians, however, have presented a different version and interpretation of the events of the time.

“If someone argues that the museum should not have been built during the war, let them present other arguments, besides that the money is needed for the reconstruction. The funds are there,” Mr Tkachenko said, according to the US government-funded media outlet.