PARIS - On the side of a building in Kyiv, the haggard face of a soldier stares into the distance. The mural, around five stories tall, is of captured Ukrainian soldier Oleksandr Matsiyevsky, executed by Russian forces last year after he shouted the words “Glory to Ukraine.”  The mural is the work of French street artist Christian Guemy, known as C215, and is one of many works he has created to mark Ukraine’s resistance to the Russian invasion. Before he completed the mural, he met with Matsiyevsky’s widow and mother. “As with everything I do for Ukraine I did it for free and with enthusiasm,” Guemy told CNN in an e-mail interview. “I am proud and humbled by this mural. Facing a real giant, who refused proudly to betray Ukraine by saying ‘Glory to Ukraine’ …can just make you feel small.” “I am just an artist, kind of a painting tool, and my commitment is to support Ukraine with my skills,” he added.  Based in Paris, Guemy has collaborated with British artist Banksy, who has also created works in Ukraine in the past. But he says their styles are different. 

“Being French gives a proper sense of tragedy, not irony.” Guemy now frequently visits Ukraine, but he has also brought the country’s struggle to the streets of the French capital. His first major work following the Russian invasion was in support of Ukrainian refugees: a mural done in blue and yellow of a Ukrainian girl with a crown of flowers in her hair, looking pensive and vulnerable. The portrait was completed in partnership with the town hall of the 13th district of Paris. It features a quote by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said in his inaugural address when he was elected in 2019: “I really do not want my pictures in your offices, for the President is not an icon, an idol or a portrait. Hang your kids’ photos instead, and look at them each time you are making a decision.”
Guemy said that his friends had suggested a mural of Zelensky himself but had told them that his support was not only for one man but to all Ukrainians fighting for their freedoms and culture. The fresco of the girl has now been replicated on a wall in the Ukrainian city of Lviv.