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Ukraine has issued a stamp based on a Banksy mural

EYDER PERALTA, HOST:

A defiant spirit is very much alive in Ukraine, as well, including on the postage there. The Ukrainian Postal Service has issued a stamp featuring the work of the quintessential underground street artist Banksy. At least seven of the British artist's pieces have popped up on walls across Ukraine. But one, drawn on a demolished wall in the town of Borodyanka, northwest of Kyiv, stood out to locals. On it, a young boy is upending a grown man. Both are in judo attire. The man about to hit the ground with his legs in the air could be interpreted as Russian president and judo fan Vladimir Putin. And so to mark one year since Putin's invasion, Ukrainians are hoping to immortalize it on envelopes, sending a message of defiance across the world.

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Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.
Hadeel Al-Shalchi
Hadeel al-Shalchi is an editor with Weekend Edition. Prior to joining NPR, Al-Shalchi was a Middle East correspondent for the Associated Press and covered the Arab Spring from Tunisia, Bahrain, Egypt, and Libya. In 2012, she joined Reuters as the Libya correspondent where she covered the country post-war and investigated the death of Ambassador Chris Stephens. Al-Shalchi also covered the front lines of Aleppo in 2012. She is fluent in Arabic.