Maksym, 18, a military cadet, gets his first tattoo at a weekly tattoo marathon held to raise funds for the military, amid Russia's invasion, in Podil, Kyiv, Ukraine May 21, 2022. Maksym chose an old Slavic symbol of Valkirii (Valkyrie) which he said symbolises "honour, justice and wisdom". REUTERS/Edgar Su
In a fashionably scruffy former factory in central Kyiv, tattoo artists ply their trade to raise money for Ukraine’s armed forces fighting fierce battles in the country’s east.
Every Saturday for the past seven weeks, a tattoo marathon has been inking customers, with funds raised being donated to Ukraine forces who have been fighting Russian troops since Moscow invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Tattoo artist Yulia Timasheva, 18, inks a tattoo of a mythical beast inspired by Ukrainian folk artist Maria Prymachenko, at a weekly tattoo marathon held to raise funds for the military, amid Russia's invasion, in Podil, Kyiv, Ukraine May 21, 2022. Timasheva donates half of the fees for her personal commissions to the Maria Prymachenko foundation after a Prymachenko museum was destroyed during the invasion in Ivankiv. REUTERS/Edgar Su
The initiative has raised 270,000 UAH ($9,134), said the man who started it, 34-year-old Sasha Filipchenko, a native of the Crimea peninsula which Russia has occupied since 2014.
"We will keep doing this until the end of the war," Filipchenko, who has lived in Kyiv for the past five years, told Reuters. "Maybe we will bring it back for victory day."
On a typical Saturday, 50 to 70 punters get tattoos from a group of 15 artists.
Myroslava Arnautova, 18, poses with her first tattoo at a weekly tattoo marathon held to raise funds for the military, amid Russia's invasion, in Podil, Kyiv, Ukraine May 21, 2022. Arnautova, chose a tattoo of a sketch of a bird by the 85-year-old Ukrainian artist Lyubov Panchenko, who died in April in Bucha during the invasion. "This is my first tattoo but now it feels like I had it all my life." REUTERS/Edgar Su
"Why not try?," 37-year-old Ukrainian-Brazilian tattoo artist Zhylson Buakela said.
"We did it for a week or two and it's already the seventh week now… As long as we can take some capital and give it to the army, I think it's the best you can do," he said.
After fighting moved away from the Kyiv region in early April, cultural life has started returning to Ukraine’s capital. Restaurants and bars have reopened as groups of young people again fill Kyiv’s public spaces.
Maria Shustykova, 21, an art student, poses with her traditional Motanka (guardian angel) doll tattoo at a weekly tattoo marathon held to raise funds for the military, amid Russia's invasion, in Podil, Kyiv, Ukraine May 21, 2022. Besides acting as her personal guardian angel, Shustykova also felt a personal connection to these dolls because she used to teach children how to make them. REUTERS/Edgar Su
The tattoo marathon takes place in Kyiv’s trendy Podil district, a pre-war hipster hub which is showing signs of revival.
Myroslava Arnautova, 18, came to get her first ever tattoo. She decided to get a sketch of a bird originally drawn by the 85-year-old Ukrainian artist Lyubov Panchenko, who was killed during fighting in the Kyiv region town of Bucha in April.
"This is my first tattoo but now it feels like I had it all my life," she told Reuters.
Oleksandr Kryshtof, 29, who has had four new tattoos done this week, poses at a weekly tattoo marathon held to raise funds for the military, amid Russia's invasion, in Podil, Kyiv, Ukraine May 21, 2022. REUTERS/Edgar Su
For some, inspiration came during the most terrifying days of the war.
Liliya Tolmachova, 22, chose one of a coffin bearing the words "Banderolka" (package), a word which also bears similarity to the name of Stepan Bandera, a Ukrainian nationalist resistance leader during the Second World War.
Tolmachova said the idea came to her as she was hiding in a school basement shelter during the shellings.
Liliya Tolmachova, 22, gets a tattoo done on her arm at a weekly tattoo marathon held to raise funds for the military, amid Russia's invasion, in Podil, Kyiv, Ukraine May 21, 2022. Tolmachova chose a tattoo of a coffin bearing the words "Banderolka" (package) referring to signs typically seen on trucks used for delivering bodies. She said the tattoo was a message to the Russians, and idea came to mind as she was hiding in a school basement shelter during the shellings. REUTERS/Edgar Su
"This was meant in a humorous way… the parcels to Russia, (urging) them to take back their dead soldiers. We don’t want them here, please," she said.
(Writing by Max Hunder, editing by Ed Osmond)
People stand outside a building where a weekly tattoo marathon is held to raise funds for the military, amid Russia's invasion, in Podil, Kyiv, Ukraine May 21, 2022. REUTERS/Edgar SuDanylo Rudenko, 19, shows his new tattoo at a weekly tattoo marathon held to raise funds for the military, amid Russia's invasion, in Podil, Kyiv, Ukraine May 21, 2022. Rudenko chose a tattoo of a strawberry (Polunytsya in Ukrainian) mocking a Russian TV anchor's mispronunciation of Palyanytsya, which is a type of Ukrainian hearth-baked bread. REUTERS/Edgar SuZakhar Tokar, 19, poses with his chestnut leaf tattoo next to a chestnut tree at a weekly tattoo marathon held to raise funds for the military, amid Russia's invasion, in Podil, Kyiv, Ukraine May 21, 2022. The chestnut leaf is a symbol of Tokar's home city Kyiv. REUTERS/Edgar SuMaksym, 18, a military cadet, poses after getting his first tattoo at a weekly tattoo marathon held to raise funds for the military, amid Russia's invasion, in Podil, Kyiv, Ukraine May 21, 2022. Maksym chose an old Slavic symbol of Valkirii (Valkyrie) which he said symbolises "honour, justice and wisdom". REUTERS/Edgar Su
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