Banksy unveils mural in Ukrainian city liberated from Russians

Renowned street artist Banksy revealed his latest artwork in an Instagram post – a mural in the liberated Ukrainian city of Borodianka.

The artwork shows a gymnast balancing on a pile of rubble next to a building damaged by Russian attacks.

The graffiti artist posted three images of the play on Friday on social media, with a simple caption saying “Borodyanka, Ukraine”, using an alternate spelling for the city’s name.

Speculation that Banksy was in the war-torn country increased after a series of murals appeared in Borodianka, located about 35 miles northwest of the capital, Kyiv.

One artwork, not officially claimed by the artist, showed a man being turned over during a judo match with a little boy.

Another showed two children using a metal tank trap as a seesaw.

Borodianka was particularly hard hit by Russian airstrikes at the start of the invasion of Ukraine in February, with many buildings reduced to piles of rubble by long-range attacks.

It was home to 13,000 people before the war, but most fled after the invasion of Russia. What remained of Borodianka, after intense bombing and devastating attacks, was then occupied by Russian forces, who moved on 28 February.

The city returned to Ukrainian control on April 1, and returning residents found their homes looted and shops looted with broken windows and stolen contents.

The letter “V” – a symbol used by Russia’s eastern military district in conjunction with the letter “Z”, an emblem of Moscow’s so-called “special military operation” – was found painted on buildings, vehicles and checkpoints.

Since then, the city has been the focus of reconstruction efforts, with several tower blocks demolished as a result of damage from the fighting.