Banksy revealed a mural in Ukrainian village Borodyanka on Friday, which was left devastated by Russian forces early on in the invasion.
The artist unveiled the mural of a female gymnast on Instagram with three pictures and the caption “Borodyanka, Ukraine.” The gymnast is seen balancing on rubble on one side of a destroyed building.
Residents suspect there may be one other Banksy mural in Borodyanka, according to Reuters. Another mural in Banksy’s signature style of a man being flipped by a small child in judo was spotted in the village, symbolizing the triumph of David over Goliath as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s love of the martial art, the outlet reported.
This mural, however, was not posted by the artist.
Borodyanka, located about 30 miles north of capital Kyiv, was hit hard early on in the invasion by Russian forces, and occupied quickly. Before the war, about 12,000 people lived in the village — the number of those who stayed through the occupation and the true death toll are still unknown.
Russian forces retreated early April, leaving behind destroyed buildings and rubble. Aerial footage of the village shows the extent of the destruction at the time.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in April that the situation in Borodyanka was “significantly more dreadful” than in Bucha, about 15 miles away.
One resident, Vadym Zagrebelnyi, told NBC News that several of his family members were trapped under the rubble of one building after a plane dropped a bomb on it.
“My mother, my brother, brother’s wife, his mother and father-in-law, are still there,” he said. “As well as other people who were in the basement.”
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Another resident told NBC News that after one apartment building was bombed, they could hear screams for days from people asking for help.
Her neighbor, 80-year-old Taisa, had to bury her 57-year-old son in her backyard after he was shot in the back by Russian troops as he was walking away.
Without communication, she had no way of telling her grandchildren that their father had been killed before they arrived to the village in person.
CORRECTION (Nov. 12, 2022, 9:50 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated the name of the artist whose mural was revealed in a Ukrainian village. The artist is Banksy, not Bansky.
Molly Hunter contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
