This week marks 71 years since the victory of the allies in World War II.
But amid the usual festivities to mark the anniversary, Kyiv activists created an eerie art installation targeted at drawing awareness to Russia’s ongoing aggression to Ukraine.
On May 7, a group of Ukrainian activists placed a large banner of Russian President Vladimir Putin over the Eternal Flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Kyiv’s Glory Park.
The banner has a large, gaping hole over Putin’s face, allowing the eternal flame to breathe through the Russian leader’s gullet.
An activist with St. Maria Cossack Battalion, going by the Facebook nom-de-guerre Maksim Donotdrinkbeer, appeared to take responsibility for the piece of activism in a May 7 Facebook post.
The cossack activist titled the performance “fiery hyena,” and called Putin a “dickhead” in the post.
“The installation is dedicated to the dethronement of the cult of Demon-victory and the Victory of Kolyma over Buchenwald,” wrote Donotdrinkbeer, apparently referring to the Kolyma Gulag camp and the Buchenwald concentration camp.
“The installation symbolizes the propaganda of the occupier on the bones of tens of millions of its victims,” Donotdrinkbeer added.
The activists also posted a video of the installation, showing the flame emerging from a hole in the Russian leader’s maw.
