Paintings And Propaganda: The Art Motivated By War In Ukraine
The paintings and murals across Ukraine and Russia prompted by the ongoing invasion.
![A fresh painting photographed on October 18 on a battle-scarred wall in Kupyansk, a town in the northeast of Ukraine recently recaptured by Ukrainian forces. The text reads "We will multiply the love in the world, and for this we will win!"](https://gdb.rferl.org/08b90000-0a00-0242-199e-08dab1c4a4be_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
1
A fresh painting photographed on October 18 on a battle-scarred wall in Kupyansk, a town in the northeast of Ukraine recently recaptured by Ukrainian forces. The text reads "We will multiply the love in the world, and for this we will win!"
![A pro-Russian mural inside a warehouse in recaptured Kupyansk photographed on October 18. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/059c0000-0aff-0242-19eb-08dab1ba7586_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
2
A pro-Russian mural inside a warehouse in recaptured Kupyansk photographed on October 18.
![Locals pass a mural depicting the hands of a Ukrainian soldier mending the torn flag of Ukraine in Kyiv in April.](https://gdb.rferl.org/059c0000-0aff-0242-e7e1-08dab1ba5f56_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
3
Locals pass a mural depicting the hands of a Ukrainian soldier mending the torn flag of Ukraine in Kyiv in April.
![Cars in Moscow in September pass under a mural of Russian soldiers bearing the ‘Z’ symbol used as a pro-war emblem. The image references a famous tsarist-era painting of three Russian knights. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/059c0000-0aff-0242-b089-08dab1ba5f6d_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
4
Cars in Moscow in September pass under a mural of Russian soldiers bearing the ‘Z’ symbol used as a pro-war emblem. The image references a famous tsarist-era painting of three Russian knights.
![French artist Christian Guemy paints next to a metro station that was badly damaged by a Russian strike in Kyiv in April. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/05a80000-0aff-0242-ee20-08dab1ba5f79_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
5
French artist Christian Guemy paints next to a metro station that was badly damaged by a Russian strike in Kyiv in April.
![A woman in central Kyiv poses next to a poster depicting the Crimea Bridge ablaze on October 8. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/cba6767b-5c6c-4378-af71-71f1b319d66f_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
6
A woman in central Kyiv poses next to a poster depicting the Crimea Bridge ablaze on October 8.
![Ukrainian artist Varvara Lohvyn paints traditional Ukrainian Petrykivka decorations on the anti-tank barriers known as ‘Czech hedgehogs’ in central Kyiv in August.](https://gdb.rferl.org/059c0000-0aff-0242-fdc5-08dab1ba5f6c_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
7
Ukrainian artist Varvara Lohvyn paints traditional Ukrainian Petrykivka decorations on the anti-tank barriers known as ‘Czech hedgehogs’ in central Kyiv in August.
![A mural above a playground in Reutov, near Moscow, depicting an elderly woman with a red flag. The large-scale painting, which was photographed in April, references a notorious incident shortly after the Russian invasion in which a pensioner emerged from her house near Kharkiv holding a flag of the Soviet Union to greet soldiers she assumed were Russian. The men were in fact Ukrainian servicemen.](https://gdb.rferl.org/059c0000-0aff-0242-6def-08dab1ba7796_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
8
A mural above a playground in Reutov, near Moscow, depicting an elderly woman with a red flag. The large-scale painting, which was photographed in April, references a notorious incident shortly after the Russian invasion in which a pensioner emerged from her house near Kharkiv holding a flag of the Soviet Union to greet soldiers she assumed were Russian. The men were in fact Ukrainian servicemen.
![Painter Viktor Oliynik, 67, paints a cityscape featuring anti-tank barriers on the streets of Odesa, Ukraine, in March.](https://gdb.rferl.org/08b90000-0a00-0242-b94c-08dab1ba6cd0_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
9
Painter Viktor Oliynik, 67, paints a cityscape featuring anti-tank barriers on the streets of Odesa, Ukraine, in March.
![The entrance to a coffee shop is decorated with posters depicting female Ukrainian warriors in Velyka Kostromka, a village in eastern Ukraine on October 13.](https://gdb.rferl.org/bafa3ccc-1e20-4344-b6a1-96e1e7db3d08_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
10
The entrance to a coffee shop is decorated with posters depicting female Ukrainian warriors in Velyka Kostromka, a village in eastern Ukraine on October 13.
![A painter works on a mural linking World War II with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Donetsk in May. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/059c0000-0aff-0242-a9cd-08dab1c14df2_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
11
A painter works on a mural linking World War II with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Donetsk in May.
![Mural painters complete an image of "Saint Javelin" -- the Virgin Mary cradling an anti-tank missile in Kyiv in May. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/09a20000-0aff-0242-ea0d-08da3d63d9c7_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
12
Mural painters complete an image of "Saint Javelin" -- the Virgin Mary cradling an anti-tank missile in Kyiv in May.