Mural in Hostomel, Kyiv Region

This striking street art piece appeared in Hostomel, a suburb of Kyiv that saw intense fighting during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The anonymous British artist Banksy created several murals across war-torn Ukrainian cities, and this one shows a figure in a gas mask and dressing gown holding a fire extinguisher, standing on a wooden chair against a bullet-scarred yellow wall. The juxtaposition of domestic normalcy (the bathrobe, the household fire extinguisher) with the sinister gas mask creates an unsettling portrait of civilian life during wartime.

Banksy's trademark stencil style and dark humor shine through in this work, which captures the absurdity of trying to maintain everyday routines while surrounded by violence and destruction. The fire extinguisher becomes both a practical tool and a symbol of futile resistance against the massive destruction of war. Like much of Banksy's political work, it's direct and accessible, requiring no art history knowledge to understand its message about the human cost of conflict and the resilience of ordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances.