Attempt to steal Banksy mural from damaged Ukraine building foiled

Police in Ukraine have foiled an attempt by a group to steal one of the murals created by Banksy, the anonymous British street artist, on the walls of damaged buildings in the war-torn nation, the media reported.

The mural was that of a woman in a gas mask on a yellow wall of a building in Hostomel, a city in the Kiev region.

According to the police, the group cut off a section of board and plaster bearing the artwork and a number of people were arrested at the scene, the BBC reported.

In a social media post, Governor of the Kiev region, Oleksiy Kuleba said the mural is undamaged and police are protecting it.

"These images are, after all, symbols of our struggle against the enemy... These are stories about the support and solidarity of the entire civilized world with Ukraine.

"We'll do everything to preserve these works of street art as a symbol of our victory," the BBC quoted Kuleba as saying.

Last month, the anonymous British released a video footage of his art in Ukraine, showing works that feature people doing daily tasks on buildings devastated by Russian shelling.

The towns in which the artwork is featured were among the worst hit at the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, including Hostomel, Horenka and Borodyanka.

While one mural shows a gymnast doing a handstand amid debris in Borodyanka, another depicts a man resembling Russian President Vladimir Putin being thrown to the floor by a child in a judo match.

Another artwork that appeared on the side of a building in Irpin shows a female rhythmic gymnast, wearing a neck brace, performing with a ribbon on top of a gaping hole.

One in Kiev city portrays two children sitting on a metal tank trap and using it as a seesaw spray painted onto a concrete defensive block.