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War-themed murals in Kyiv honor Ukraine’s fallen soldiers

The phenomenon of vivid street paintings brightening the drab grey walls of apartment buildings is not new in Ukraine. Before the war, those images depicted fairy tales, outstanding musicians and national figures. Now they honor volunteer soldiers and others who have become well-known symbols of heroism and resistance over the past two years.

By Efrem Lukatsky / AP

Feb. 22, 2024

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A mural on an apartment building wall depicts Ukrainian volunteer soldier Maksym Yalovtsov, 32, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Feb. 5. Yalovtsov, call-sign Regbist (rugby player), a wrestling coach and Dynamo Kyiv ultras, was killed in a battle with the Russian troops in 2022.
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A mural on the wall of an apartment building depicts Saint Javelin, an internet meme and fictional character in an icon style cradling the FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank weapon that the Ukrainian army used against the Russian troops, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 2. Saint Javelin is a symbol of resistance against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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Children look at a mural depicting a terrier called Patron (cartridge), a detecting dog and a mascot for Ukraine's Emergency Situation Service, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 2. Patron, born 2019, was awarded with home and foreign awards for his work in locating and defusing unexploded ordnance left behind by Russian troops. On November 2022, UNICEF recognised Patron as the "Goodwill AmbassaDOG" in Ukraine.
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A mural depicts Andriy Ogorodnik, 23, a soldier of Ukraine's Azov regiment, on an apartment building wall in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 2. Ogorodnik was killed in a battle with Russian troops on April 26, 2022 while defending the Azovstal plant in Mariupol.
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A mural depicts volunteer soldiers of the 3rd assault brigade to honour the memory of their fellow soldier Serhiy Mashovets on an apartment building wall in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 1. Mashovets was killed in 2022 defending capital Kyiv from the Russian troops. He was an ecology activist who wanted to create a natural park in his home city district.
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A mural depicts zoo volunteer Anastasia Tykha with dogs, on an apartment building wall in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 19. Tykha saved some 30 dogs during fierce battles with the Russian troops in her home town of Irpin near Kyiv in March 2022. Some of the dogs were disabled.
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A mural depicts Oleksandr Khmil, Ukrainian ice hockey champion and a volunteer soldier, on an apartment wall in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 19. Khmil was killed in a fierce battle with the Russian troops near Bakhmut in Ukraine's east Donetsk region in May 2023.
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A mural depicts a 19-year old soldier from Ukraine's National Guard, Roman Holomba, who shot down seven Russian jets and a missile with an Igla portable anti-aircraft missile system, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 19. Holomba is the youngest soldier who was awarded with the state award of the Hero of Ukraine.
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A man passes by a mural based on a photo, which was taken during the Feb. 2023 soccer match between Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk Split in Zagreb, on a retaining wall in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 19. Dinamo Zagreb fans of the Bad Blue Boys paid tribute to Ukrainian soldiers, soccer fans, who had been killed in the battles with Russian troops, as they waved banners with their names and slogans "Glory to Ukraine!" to mark the first year of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The biggest banner reads "Borodach Division", the name of a unit in the Azov Regiment created of soccer fans.
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A mural depicts a 19-year old soldier from Ukraine's National Guard, Roman Holomba, who shot down seven Russian jets and a missile with an Igla portable anti-aircraft missile system, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 19. Holomba is the youngest soldier who was awarded with the state award of the Hero of Ukraine.
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A mural depicts Andriy Ogorodnik, 23, a soldier of Ukraine's Azov regiment, on an apartment building wall in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 2. Ogorodnik was killed in a battle with Russian troops on April 26, 2022 while defending the Azovstal plant in Mariupol.
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A mural depicts a Ukrainian pilot showing a thumbs-up sign on an apartment building wall in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 19. The mural refers to a city legend of the Ghost of Kyiv, a flying ace who shot down six Russian pilots in the first 30 hours of the Russian invasion in February 2022 defending the sky over the capital.
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A mural depicts volunteer soldier Oleksiy Movchan holding a rescued cat moments before his death, on the wall of an apartment block in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 1. Writing on the mural reads: "Glory to Heroes of Ukraine". Movchan and three of his fellow soldiers rescued 11 civilians and the cat from under debris of a house ruined in the Russian rocket attack in the country's eastern Donetsk region, but he got hit by the shelling and was killed.

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