Bristol graffiti artist Banksy appears to have confirmed he is in Ukraine, ending much speculation. The artist posted to his Instagram page on Friday night, this time an image where a woman is doing a handstand on a rock.
The street artist added the caption, "Borodyanka, Ukraine" to his artwork on the side of her another war-torn building. In April this year, Russian Armed Forces targeted this city extensively.
The original artworks that caused speculation were on another demolished building in Borodyanka, showing a child throwing a man to the floor in a judo outfit. The other artwork shows a boy and a girl on a wall sprayed in such a way as to make it look like the corner of a metal frame on the ground in front of them is a see saw.
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The first sighting of the art was captured by photojournalist Ed Ram, who is in Ukraine working for photo agency Getty, who said Borodyanka is in the Kyiv region of Ukraine and was somewhere hit particularly hard by Russian airstrikes in the first few weeks of the conflict.
The photojournalist wrote on Instagram: "I wonder if it might be a Banksy or an imitation? Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was a black belt in judo, was removed from his position as honorary president of the International Judo Federation in May."
It would not be the first time Banksy has ventured into some of the world's conflict zones - he has travelled to Palestine many times, first to paint on or near the huge wall erected by the Israelis, and then to open a guesthouse called The Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem, which opened in 2017 temporarily, but is still open to visitors today.
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