Spanish job Artworks sneaked out for Madrid exhibition

A secret convoy of two trucks containing 51 rare works of art slipped out of Kyiv early last Tuesday, hours before waves of Russian missiles rained down on the capital.

- Harriet Sherwood

The mission to transport the works west to Lviv, across the border to Poland and then 3,000km across Europe to Madrid was unexpectedly hazardous, even in wartime.

Much of the country was plunged into darkness as energy infrastructure came under fire. Lviv was targeted as the trucks passed through, and as the trucks approached the Ukraine-Poland border, a stray missile fell in the nearby Polish village of Przewodów.

After five days on the road, the artworks reached their destination, the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in the Spanish capital, where next week they will go on display in a major exhibition of Ukrainian avant-garde art.