Three days after Banksy debuted his latest mural on Instagram, spray-painted on the wall of a bombed-out building in the Ukrainian city of Borodianka, the anonymous street artist has confirmed that he has completed seven new works in Ukraine in total. Banksy confirmed the news to The Art newspaper after a series of murals suspected to be his appeared in the liberated Ukrainian city, which is located about 35 miles northwest of Kiev. Other projects are located in the capital and other cities in the region. Borodianka, which was hit particularly hard by Russian airstrikes in the first weeks of the conflict, was the first location in Ukraine where Banksy confirmed his new street art. Credit: Ed Ram/Getty Images The first artwork spotted, which went viral over the weekend, shows a female athlete balancing on a pile of rubble on the side of a building damaged by Russian strikes. The graffiti artist posted three images of the piece on social media on Friday, with a simple caption that read “Borodyanka, Ukraine” – an alternative spelling for the city’s name. A mural shows a man toppling over during a martial arts match with a young boy. Credit: Ed Ram/Getty Images Another artwork depicts a small boy, wearing a martial arts outfit tied with a black belt, flipping an adult man onto his back. Some have linked the image to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose honorary black belt was revoked earlier this year by World Taekwondo, although Banksy has not publicly commented on the image or its meaning. Other murals showed two children using a metal tank trap as a seesaw and a woman in curlers and a gas mask holding a fire extinguisher. Borodianka was hit particularly hard by Russian airstrikes and shelling in the early days of the country’s invasion of Ukraine, with many buildings reduced to piles of rubble by long-range attacks. It was home to 13,000 people before the war, but most left after the Russian invasion. What was left of the city was then occupied by Russian forces, who entered on 28 February. Wearing a neck brace, a rhythmic gymnast performs to a new Banksy piece painted on the wall of a residential building in Irpin, Ukraine. Credit: Maxym Marusenko/NurPhoto/Getty Images The city returned to Ukrainian control on 1 April and returning residents found their homes ransacked and shops ransacked with windows broken and contents stolen. It has since been the focus of rebuilding efforts, with many towers demolished as a result of the damage caused by the fighting. The series is Banksy’s first body of artwork to appear since last summer’s ‘Great British Spraycation’, which saw the enigmatic artist leave behind his signature pop art commentary at locations across various British coastal towns. Internet speculation ran rampant before the artwork was confirmed. Credit: Ed Ram/Getty Images Last year, the artist also focused his efforts on raising money for social and political causes, auctioning a painting for a record $23.1 million for UK health organizations and selling T-shirts in support of anti-racist protesters arrested for overturning a statue. of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol. (The protesters were acquitted of the charges in January.) After confirming that he is the author of the gymnastics mural, many Ukrainians and supporters of the country in the face of its invasion thanked the artist in comments and posts on social media. “This is such a historic moment for our country, that people like Banksy and other famous figures are coming here and showing the world what Russia has done to us,” a Kiev resident told Al Jazeera English in a video posted on Twitter on Sunday.
