AFP, published on Saturday, December 3, 2022 at 3:45 p.m
Ukrainian police on Friday managed to thwart an attempt to steal a work by famous British artist Banksy, which was stenciled in a Kyiv suburb, local authorities said.
“(Friday) in Gostomel, a group of people tried to steal a Banksy drawing. They cut up the (made) work on the wall of a house destroyed by the Russians,” announced the governor of the Kyiv region, Oleksiï Kouleba Telegram published press release.
His social media post was accompanied by a photo showing a wall with part of the siding, orange paint, cut away. Here a person standing on a chair with a gas mask was stenciled.
According to Mr Kouleba, “several people were arrested on the spot” by the Ukrainian police and “the drawing is in good condition and is in the hands of the police”.
The police chief of the Kyiv region, Andrii Nebitov, said in a separate statement that “eight people have been identified”.
“All are between 27 and 60 years old. They are residents of “Kyiv and Cherkassy,” a city located 200 km southeast of the capital, he explained on Telegram, adding that “a preliminary investigation into property damage has been launched.”
In mid-November, Banksy posted a video on his Instagram account compiling his stenciled works in Ukraine, including that of a person wearing a gas mask in Gostomel, thereby confirming that he is the author.
A series of his cartoons appeared in Kyiv and the surrounding area in early November.
“Banksy’s plants in the Kyiv region are under police protection,” Kouleba said in his statement.