The Ukrainian city of Kyiv, the suburb of Irpin, and the village of Borodyanka—among the areas severely affected by Russian bombing—are among the locations where the British street artist Banksy has verified to The Art Newspaper that he has painted seven murals.
After three pieces were discovered last week, speculation that the unknown artist was in the war-torn nation increased. In one painting, a guy who appears to be Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen getting knocked to the ground while competing in judo with a young kid; Putin is a black belt in a martial art.
Another piece depicts two kids using a metal tank trap as a seesaw, and a third mural depicts a gymnast performing a handstand inside the ruins of a bombed building.
These, along with four further pieces, have all been confirmed by Banksy. A bearded man taking a bath, a woman in her dressing gown with her hair in curlers and holding a fire extinguisher, and another piece in which Banksy appears to have integrated pre-existing graffiti of a penis into a nuclear bomb carried onto the back of an armored truck are among them.
Early in the invasion, Russian forces besieged and bombed Borodyanka, a town about 54 kilometers northwest of Kyiv. Following its liberation in April, Ukrainian investigators discovered dozens of mass graves including the bodies of tortured and slain residents. Investigations into alleged Russian war crimes in Irpin and the nearby Bucha have also been demanded.
Although this is not the first time his work has been linked to Ukraine, the latest pieces are Banksy’s first public murals in more than a year. A print of CND Soldiers, one of his most well-known anti-war works, was sold at auction in March, raising $106,505 for a Kyiv children’s hospital. During demonstrations against the Iraq War, the original mural first appeared in 2003 outside the Houses of Parliament in London.
