A mural by graffiti artist Banksy remains intact after a group of people attempted to cut it off the wall on which it was painted in Ukraine.
The group were successful in slicing off a section of board and plaster bearing the image of a woman in a gas mask and dressing gown holding a fire extinguisher on the side of a battle-scarred building.
The Kyiv regional governor said the group was spotted at the scene in the city of Hostomel, near the Ukrainian capital, and the mural was retrieved.
“These images are, after all, symbols of our struggle against the enemy,” Oleksiy Kuleba said in a statement on Telegram.
“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 said, adding that the mural was now under police protection.
Banksy, whose works have sold for millions of pounds, confirmed he had painted the mural and six others last month in places that were badly affected by heavy fighting after Russia invaded Ukraine in late February.
One of the other murals shows a girl gymnast performing a handstand on a pile of concrete rubble. Another shows an old man having a bath.
Police published images of the yellow wall in Hostomel, with a large patch cut all the way back to the brickwork. A number of people were arrested at the scene, they said.
Russia’s war in Ukraine is now in its tenth month. Moscow’s forces were pushed back from areas around Kyiv in the first phase of the war, but fighting rages on in the east and south.
Last month, Banksy confirmed he was in Ukraine as he shared a picture of new artwork on a destroyed building.
The artist shared pictures of his latest piece spray-painted on the wall of the war-torn building in Borodyanka, 35 miles from Kyiv.
The artist, from Bristol, has previously travelled into zones of conflict, leaving his mark in Palestine several times.
His first painting appeared on or near a huge wall erected by the Israelis, and in 2017, to mark the 100th anniversary of British control in Palestine, he opened a guesthouse called The Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem.
