First trial this Wednesday in kyiv of a Russian soldier for war crimes…

Black bulletproof vest adorned with the Khartia Battalion crest, a tourniquet for tourniquets and…. two markers, one black and one white: this is the “work equipment” of Gamlet Zinkivsky, a renowned Ukrainian street artist who decided to stay in Kharkiv, his hometown, to “paint the walls” devastated by war . Gamlet was in Kharkiv at the start of the Russian attack, spent a night in the shelter of the metro and then ten days in his parents’ house, which was safer, before taking refuge with part of his family in Ivano -Frankivsk in western Ukraine little affected by the war.

He stayed there for two months, organizing crowdfunding to support the army and humanitarian aid, before receiving a phone call from the commander of the Khartia battalion, a friend who told him: “You’ve been in Ivano-Frankivsk for too long. long time. We need you here. You have to paint,” says Gamlet. He says he accepted “the order with joy” and “now signs all his paintings with his name and that of the battalion. I have complete freedom to paint what I want where I want”.

A patriot, Gamlet does not see his brush “as a weapon against Russia”. “What I do helps real fighters defend the country that has artists, musicians and a culture that inspire soldiers.”