PE792N: UKRAINE WAR 2023 - 1 val. "1 YEAR RUSSIAN INVASION 24 Feb 2022" ©BANKSY

A work by BANKSY reproduced on a Ukrainian postage stamp

The Ukrainian Post issued this Friday, February 24, 2023, a stamp reproducing a work by British graffiti artist Banksy, in which a young judoka knocks down an adult man.

An allegory of Ukraine defeating Russia, painted on a ruined building near Kyiv. The phrase "ПТН ПНХ! (FCK PTN)" (Fuck Putin) has been added to the lower left part of the new stamp, which reproduces the artist's work.

A long line of philatelists crowded Friday morning outside the main post office in Kyiv. The stamp, issued in only 250,000 blocks of 6 values, was sold out in a few hours!

First anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine (February 24, 2022/2023)

On February 24, 2022, at about four in the morning Kyiv time, the president of the russian federation announced a """"special military operation"""" in Ukraine, after which russian troops launched missile strikes throughout Ukraine and launched a full-scale military offensive. 

For Ukrainians, 2022 was a year of national unity, a year of courage and victory, a year of endurance and self-sacrifice. The Ukrainian people impressed the world and were awarded prestigious international honors: Charlemagne Prize (for defending European values), Andrii Sakharov Prize (for freedom of thought), The Atlantic Council Award (for outstanding leadership), The Casimir Pulaski Foundation Award (Knight of Freedom), etc.

The postage stamp, issued on the anniversary of russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, presents one of the seven graffiti of the British artist Banksy, created by him in Ukraine in 2022. The graffiti with a judoka who has been sent to the knockout stage was painted by the artist on the wall of a destroyed house in the village of Borodyanka (Kyiv region).

© Banksy, 2022.