To mark the first anniversary of the ongoing war with Russia, Ukraine has issued postal stamps with a Banksy mural on them.
The mural was painted outside a burnt building in Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine, in November last year. It was one of the 7 murals Banksy created in 2022 after the war broke out. The mural depicts a young boy executing the “floating drop” (a type of judo move) on an adult man with perfection.
The young boy is supposed to depict Ukraine and the man is supposed to be Russia. The choice of martial art is also deliberate; Russian president Vladimir Putin is a professional judo fighter, but was stripped of his title after the war began. Aside from the mural, the postal stamp also has ‘FCK PTN’ written in Cyrillic letters. On Friday, after the stamps were released, a swarm of people flocked to the Kyiv post office to get them.
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Last week, Banksy was also in the news after the Ukrainian authorities announced to protect his seven murals with protective fiberglass sheets. The move came after 8 people tried to steal one of his murals outside Kyiv. All the perpetrators were immediately arrested and the lead could face up to 12 years in prison. Citing Banksy’s mural as culturally important to the country, Ukraine officials added new security measures to the sites. Aside from the protective covers, they are also equipped with wireless motion sensors.
