Banksy confirmed being behind seven new pieces of street art near Kyiv in Ukraine in a video posted on Instagram Thursday.
And the 90-second clip features a heartbreaking moment when a mother tells her young daughter not to cry at the rubble-strewn site of one of the anonymous British street artist’s murals, which shows a child appearing to judo-throw Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose army invaded Ukraine in February.
“It was a bomb here and many people died,” the woman says to the camera, according to a subtitled translation. “My child used to go to this kindergarten.”
The mother then tells her child: “Don’t be sad honey, we already cried so much, we don’t have any tears left.”
The young girl goes to touch a bombed-out car.
“Honey, don’t touch it,” her mother says, adding: “Come and let the man take your picture.”
Watch the video here:
The clip has been favorited on Instagram almost 1 million times.
It ends with an unexpected threat as a man wearing an Elvis Presley shirt points toward another of the stencils — of a missile launcher appearing to fire from existing graffiti of male genitalia — and, per the subtitled translation, tells the camera operator: “For this, I would kick out all his teeth and break his legs.”
A representative for Banksy did not immediately reply to HuffPost’s request for comment.
The artwork appears to poke fun at Russian troops. The video ends with the message: “In solidarity with the people of Ukraine.”
See all of Banksy’s Ukraine art here:
