‘We are fighting for our culture’: Ukrainian artists head to Venice Biennale

Pavlo Makov was reluctant to leave Kharkiv but after sleeping in a bomb shelter for a week, he decided he had to represent Ukraine

• Russia-Ukraine war: latest updates

Russia's idea is to eliminate Ukraine - and to eliminate Ukrainian culture. If it has no culture, Ukraine does not exist."

That was the sentiment that compelled Pavlo Makov, the official Ukrainian artist at the 59th Venice Biennale, to head to Italy to install his exhibition.