A large, privately-owned, and operated museum dedicated to retro computers and video games was destroyed earlier this week in Ukraine as a result of the ongoing and horrific invasion of the country by Russia. While a museum being destroyed doesn`t compare at all to the thousands dead and injured, it is still a sad loss as over 500 pieces of computer history spanning decades has been destroyed.

The museum, located in Mariupol, Ukraine, was operated by Dmitry Cherepanov. The news of its destruction was confirmed by the Ukrainian Software and Computer Museum Twitter account. The owner Cherepanov is safe, however he not only lost his museum, but also his home. He maintains a Facebook page, and reported that "All that is left from my collection that I have been collection for 15 years is just fragments of memories on Facebook, website, and radio station of the museum."

Cherepanov will try to support his it8bit website, but of course his priorities have understandably shifted. Cherepanov started his computer collecting hobby back when the Soviet Union still existed and produced their own personal computers. His museum supported the restoration and preservation of these oddities that often included straight rip-offs of western computers.