Elusive British street artist Banksy may have been ‘caught’ painting a mural on a destroyed building in Ukraine.
CCTV footage doing the rounds on Ukrainian TikTok shows a mask-wearing man sneaking up to a wall in the city of Irpin, near Kyiv, before ‘painting’ on it.
While the footage appears to be a heavily staged spoof, it is possible it still shows Banksy – whose true identity has never been revealed.
The Irpin artwork, which shows a ballerina in a neck-brace, has been confirmed as a genuine Bansky and is one of seven he has painted in Ukraine in recent days.
The idea of spoofing a video of himself being ‘caught’ is in keeping with Bansky’s mischievous sense of humour.
Staged CCTV footage doing the rounds on Ukrainian TikTok shows a man sneaking up to a wall in the city of Irpin before ‘painting’ a Banksy on it
While the footage is heavily staged and the painting is obviously not happening live, it is still possible the British street artist spoofed it himself – in keeping with his sense of humour
The Irpin artwork – showing a ballerina in a neck-brace – has been confirmed as a genuine Banksy and is one of seven painted in Ukraine in recent days
Other works painted by Bansky in Ukraine include a man in a bathtub – who bears a passing resemblance to Charles Darwin – painted inside a destroyed apartment in Horenka, a village five miles north-east of Irpin.
Another painted on the walls of a destroyed school in the town of Borodyanka, west of Irpin, shows a child flipping an adult man on to his back in a judo match.
The male figure appears to be Vladimir Putin – who holds a judo back belt.
More works include a mobile missile launcher that incorporates a crude drawing of a penis where the rocket should be, children playing on a tank trap as if it were a see-saw, and a woman in hair curlers and a gas mask holding a fire extinguisher.
Banksy confirmed their authenticity in a video released on his Instagram account, entitled ‘in solidarity with the people of Ukraine’.
Included in the footage is a woman and her daughter outside the bombed-out school, after the judo mural had been painted.
She says: ‘It was a bomb here and many people died.
‘My child used to go to this kindergarten. Don’t cry honey, we already cried so much, we don’t have any tears left.’
An artwork confirmed to be by Banksy on a street in Kyiv shows a Russian missile launcher with a crudely drawn penis in place of the rocket
Another of Banksy’s Ukraine artworks shows a woman with hair curlers and a robe on, wearing a gas mask and holding a fire extinguisher near a burned-out building
Painted on the wall of a nursery destroyed by a Russian bomb, this Banksy shows a child throwing a man who resembles Putin in a judo match – a sport in which he has a black belt
Banksy began his unconventional artistic career as a graffiti artist in Bristol in the 1990s, and came to prominence painting satirical, political murals on buildings.
His signature style became black and white portraits painted using stencils, often showing human or animal figures performing an action or interacting with the world around them.
Some of his most well known works oppose conflict, including a portrait of a man hurling a bouquet of flowers – painted on the West Bank Wall which separates Jerusalem from Israel.
He is also known for playing with the idea of fake vs real.
During a residency in New York in 2013 he set up what appeared to be a tourist-trap stall in Central Park selling what seemed like replicas of his work for $60 a piece.
Except that the stall was real, and the artworks were genuine.
Despite being in place for a full day, just one customer bought two prints which later raised in excess of $100,000 when sold at auction.
Another piece that toyed with a similar idea and the worth of art was a print of ‘Girl With Balloon’ that partially shredded itself while being auctioned.
The half-destroyed artwork later went back on auction, and sold for many times its initial guide price.
Another of Banksy’s new artworks in Ukraine shows a man who bears a passing resemblance to Charles Darwin having a bath in a destroyed house
A dancer also features in this piece by Banksy, painted in the town of Borodyanka, which shows the female figure balancing on top of rubble
Two children appear to be playing on a tank trap as if on a see-saw in this Banksy work, which appeared in downtown Kyiv
Banksy’s Ukraine artworks appeared in cities and towns devastated by Russia’s nine-month long and ongoing war in Ukraine.
Irpin, where the ballerina with the neck brace appeared, was the site of some of the worst atrocities committed by Putin’s troops.
Hundreds of civilians were massacred during a months-long occupation after Russian forces were stopped there while trying to advance on Kyiv.
When Putin’s troops retreated they left behind evidence of their war crimes, including mass graves, torture chambers, and civilian bodies lying in the streets.
Ukraine is continuing to drive back the Kremlin’s troops on the battlefield, with recent retreats coming in the south and north-east.
Russian forces fled from the area around Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, in September and recently withdrew from the city of Kherson.
Around half of the territory occupied by Moscow’s armies at the peak of the invasion has now been recaptured, with Kyiv asking for more weapons to get the job done.
At the top of the list is anti-aircraft batteries to protect against increased Russia air strikes, but Ukraine also wants attack jets and tanks to help with its offensives.