Banksy thieves ‘arrested at scene’
A BANKSY mural of a woman in a gas mask that was reported to have been stolen on Friday has been seized by police, who arrested the culprits at the scene, Ukrainian officials have said.
The mural, one of more than half a dozen painted in the wartorn suburbs of Kyiv last month by the Bristolian artist, had been stolen when it was cut and removed from the wall of a burned-out home in Hostomel, near Kyiv.
But now, the local governor of the Kyiv region has gone onto social media to reassure people the mural is in the hands of the police, who made arrests.
Oleksiy Kuleba, governor of the Kyiv region, said the attempt to steal the street art had been foiled by police.
“These images are, after all, symbols of our struggle against the enemy,” said Mr Kuleba. “These are stories about the support and solidarity of the entire civilised world with Ukraine. We’ll do everything to preserve these works of street art as a symbol of our victory,” he added.
Initial reports emerged from Hostomel on Friday morning that the work of art had been stolen when people there noticed the render had been cut away from the yellow building onto which Banksy sprayed his image of a woman wearing a gas mask. But police and the regional governor confirmed that while the painting had been removed as a theft attempt, those responsible had been arrested.