Kyiv:
A group of people attempted to remove a mural by graffiti artist Banksy in Ukraine on Friday by cutting it off a battle-scarred wall where it was painted, the governor of the Kiev region said.
The group managed to cut a section of cardboard and plaster depicting a woman in a gas mask and dressing gown holding a fire extinguisher on the side of a scorched building.
But they were seen on site in the Kyiv town of Hostomel and the mural was recovered, Oleksiy Kuleba said in a statement.
The statue was still intact and police were protecting it, he added.
“After all, these statues are symbols of our fight against the enemy… We will do everything we can to preserve these street artworks as a symbol of our victory,” he said.
Banksy, whose work can sell for millions of dollars on the art market, confirmed he painted the mural and six others last month in places hit by heavy fighting after Russia invaded Ukraine in late February.
One of the other murals shows a gymnast performing a handstand on a pile of concrete rubble. Another shows an old man sitting in a bath.
Police released images of the yellow wall in Hostomel, showing a large strip all the way back to the masonry. A number of people were arrested at the scene, they said.
Russia’s war in Ukraine is now entering its tenth month. Moscow’s troops were pushed back from Kiev in the first phase of the war, but the battle rages in the east and south.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)
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