A group of people tried to steal a Banksy mural from a war-scarred wall in Ukraine, the region’s governor has said.
They managed to cut out a section of board and plaster with an image of a woman in a gas mask and gown holding a fire extinguisher.
But they were seen at the scene in the town of Hostomel, near kyiv, and the mural was recovered, Oleksiy Kuleba said in a statement.
He added that the image was still intact and that the police were protecting it.
“These images are, after all, symbols of our fight against the enemy…we will do our best to preserve these works of street art as a symbol of our victory,” he said.
Police shared images of the yellow wall in Hostomel, with a large patch cut through to the brick.
They said several people were arrested at the scene.
banksy confirmed that he had painted the mural and six others last month in places that had seen particularly heavy fighting after Russia invaded Ukraine in late February.
One shows a gymnast swinging on top of a damaged building, while another shows a man resembling Russian President Vladimir Putin being flipped over during a judo match with a young child, and another shows two children using a tank trap. metal as a seesaw.
Banksy’s work can sell for millions of pounds on the art market.
