The Ukrainians were enthusiastic about the pictures on the destroyed house walls. At the beginning of November, depictions that could be unmistakably assigned to the British street artist Banksy appeared in several cities in the country shaken by the Russian war of aggression. Shortly thereafter, he also officially acknowledged this work with a video that showed his work in Ukraine.
However, a few days later, in the town of Hostomel, one of them disappeared. Without much care, thieves had detached a sheet of plaster from the masonry where a woman wearing a gas mask and holding a fire extinguisher had previously been seen. The public prosecutor’s office has now opened proceedings against the alleged organizer of the art theft.
Im threatened with imprisonment for up to twelve years for “serious robbery committed by a gang”. The seriousness of the allegation is based primarily on the opinion of an expert who estimated the value of Banksy’s work at around $250,000.
Statements to investigators
But the accused, a 32-year-old mathematician and environmental activist from Kyiv, insists that he acted with the best of intentions. He wanted to save the work of art because the burned-out house on which the artist immortalized himself was about to be demolished. That’s why he asked an artist friend for advice on how to pack and transport valuable works of art properly. He advised plywood panels and Styrofoam.
During the investigation, Sergej D. stated that he wanted to document his rescue operation on video, asking Banksy for understanding. But this video does not exist.
Testimonies also cast doubt on the noble intentions of the self-proclaimed rescuer. The alleged perpetrator is said to have explained to them that street art is not really art at all, it belongs to everyone. D. is said to have claimed that anyone who wanted to could take them with them.
We are stronger than David. They are weaker than Goliath.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense on Twitter in reference to the judo graffiti
Hostomel City Council said they intended to demolish the house, but wanted to save Banksy’s work and mount it on the wall of the planned new building. The alleged rescuer would have been informed about this if he had only asked.
In total, Banksy left seven works on house walls riddled with bullet holes in Ukraine in November. In the heavily damaged Kiev suburbs of Borodjanka, Horenka and Irpin, for example, the graffiti shows a girl doing a handstand on the rubble or an old man with a long beard sitting in a bathtub scrubbing his back with a large brush.
The city of Irpin, a suburb of Kyiv, even gave Banksy honorary citizenship. The document, published by the Kiyv Independent on its website, states that the artist “did draw attention to the destruction of Irpin by the Russian aggressors and immortalized the story of the struggle in Irpin and the idea of reconstruction with his work”. The picture doesn’t show a small boy in a judo suit throwing down an adult fighter more than twice his size. A clear nod to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
To home page
