For nearly a thousand years they have stood guard over Izyum, gazing west towards the setting sun. Their facial features, if they had any, have been worn away by the ages. Some are wearing headdresses and necklaces.

Now the babas of Mount Kremenets have become perhaps the oldest victims of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

At least one of the ancient statues, which date to between 900 and 1300 AD, was destroyed and others suffered shrapnel damage during fierce fighting here in spring.

The stone woman, who was completely destroyed, appears to have been the victim of a single shell which left a black crater a few feet away.

The statue’s neighbours – one potbellied and wearing some kind of loincloth, the other naked – escaped with a few pock-marks.

Read more: yahoo