Sasha Korban | |
|---|---|
| Born | 12 March 1987  |
| Occupation | Graffiti artist |
| Works | Milana (mural) |
Sasha Korban is a Ukrainian graffiti artist. [1] His 2018 Mariupol mural of Milana Abdurashytova, a 3-year-old girl who survived a missile attack by pro-Russian forces, [2] [3] [4] was destroyed in 2022 during the Russian occupation of Mariupol. [5]
Korban was born 12 March 1987 in Kirovske in Donetsk Oblast in Ukraine. [6]
Korban worked in the Komsomolets Donbasu coal mine from 2006 to 2011. [6]
Sky Art Foundation describes Korban's interest in street art as mainly starting in 2009. [6]
In September 2018, Korban painted a mural of Milana Abdurashytova on a 15-floor building in Mariupol. Abdurashytova and her mother had been hit by a missile strike launched by pro-Russian forces in 2015. Abdurashytova's mother shielded her, dying as a result but saving Abdurashytova's life. One of Abdurashytova's legs was amputated. Abdurashytova received rehabilitation support from the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation. Korban's mural, known as Milana, became a symbol for Mariupol residents. [2] [3]
Korban described Abdurashytova as "stronger than any war", having a "little and yet brave heart [that] conquered everything", and as "a real symbol of true hope". [7] Street Art United States described Abdurashytova's face in the mural as "exemplif[ying] Korban's signature style of expressive faces, almost narrative in their realism". It described Milana as "embod[ying] a proud stoicism standing against disaster ... [Abdurashytova] does not exhibit fear, but serenity." [7]
After the 24 February 2022 full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Milana mural was painted over during the Russian occupation of Mariupol. [5] During the occupation, a mural of an Australian girl was also painted in Mariupol by Italian artist Jorit. Il Giornale and the Italian investigative journalism site Valigia Blu criticised Jorit's mural, on the grounds that the artist described it as relating to "NATO missiles", while the bombs that killed children in Mariupol were Russian, and in relation to Korban's destroyed mural. [8] [3] [4]
In April 2021, Korban created a mural, A little magic, under a bridge in Kyiv. [1]
In late 2022, on a building opposite the Russian embassy in Tbilisi, Korban painted a mural of a woman wearing traditional clothing. The mural was part of the 2022 Tbilisi Mural Fest and seen as a symbol of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. [9]
Mariupol is a city in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is situated on the northern coast (Pryazovia) of the Sea of Azov, at the mouth of the Kalmius River. Prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was the tenth-largest city in the country and the second-largest city in Donetsk Oblast, with an estimated population of 425,681 people in January 2022; Ukrainian authorities estimate the current population of Mariupol at approximately 120,000. Mariupol has been occupied by Russian forces since May 2022.
Rinat Leonidovych Akhmetov is a Ukrainian billionaire and businessman. He is the founder and president of System Capital Management (SCM), and is the wealthiest man in Ukraine. As of June 2024, he was listed as the 785th richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of US$4 billion. Since 2014, his Foundation has provided 13 million food kits to the residents of Ukraine, and aid has reached more than 18 million people.
Segodnya was a Russian-language Ukrainian tabloid newspaper founded in 1997. The newspaper ceased printing in 2019.
Street art is visual art created in public locations for public visibility. It has been associated with the terms "independent art", "post-graffiti", "neo-graffiti" and guerrilla art.
System Capital Management or SCM is a major Ukrainian financial and industrial holding company established in 2000 in Donetsk, Ukraine. It is currently headquartered in Limassol, Cyprus. The business is controlled by Ukrainian businessman and oligarch Rinat Akhmetov, who owns 100% of the company's shares. In 2011, the group had revenues of around $19.5 billion and assets worth over $28.4 billion.
Ukraina was a national Ukrainian-language TV channel, owned by Media Group Ukraine. It began broadcasting as a regional, Donetsk TV channel on March 13, 1993, with getting a national status in 2004. It ceased broadcasting in July 2022. The channel consisted of TV shows, films and TV series, both domestic and foreign.
The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation is a non-profit organization established July 15, 2005 by Rinat Leonidovich Akhmetov, a Ukrainian businessman. The previous name of the organization was Foundation for the "Development of Ukraine". Mission of the Foundation is: "Work for people by eliminating the causes of burning social problems; implementing the best practices of Ukraine and other countries, developing unique system solutions; obtaining the optimal result with every project and action". Foundation has two offices functioning in Kyiv and Donetsk, Ukraine.
Football 1 was first specialized TV channel in Ukraine, dedicated exceptionally to football broadcasts. Football 1, Football 2 and Football 3 broadcast Ukrainian and European club competitions, international matches and other football events.
The Azovstal Iron and Steel Works, or Azovstal Metallurgical Combine, was a metallurgical facility located in Mariupol in eastern Ukraine, and one of the largest steel rolling companies in the country.
Metinvest is an international group of steel and mining companies that owns operations in Ukraine, Italy, Bulgaria, the UK and the US, mines ore and coal, produces coke, smelts steel and produces rolled products, pipes and other steel products. The group's assets are managed by Metinvest Holding LLC.
Media Group Ukraine was a media holding company that manages System Capital Management Group's television and new media projects. The holding company is a professional investor in Ukrainian media business. Media Group Ukraine was one of the largest media holding companies in Ukraine.
The Pryazovia Worker is a regional Russian-language newspaper in Ukraine.
Jorit Ciro Cerullo, known mononymously as Jorit, is an Italian street artist. He is known for painting murals depicting faces of people with red streaks on their cheeks.
Ilaria Cucchi is an Italian human rights activist and politician.
Opposition Bloc, formerly called Opposition Bloc — Party for Peace and Development until June 2019, was a Ukrainian political party that was founded in 2019. On 8 June 2022, the party was banned in court. The party officially ceased to exist on 25 July, due to not appealing the ban.
On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which started in 2014. The invasion, the largest conflict in Europe since World War II, has caused hundreds of thousands of military casualties and tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilian casualties. As of 2024, Russian troops occupy about 20% of Ukraine. From a population of 41 million, about 8 million Ukrainians had been internally displaced and more than 8.2 million had fled the country by April 2023, creating Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II.
Russia began an invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War that began in 2014. It is the largest military attack in Europe since World War II. During the fighting, many pieces of Ukrainian cultural heritage were either destroyed, damaged, or put at risk due to the widespread destruction across the country. This deliberate destruction and looting of over 500 Ukrainian cultural heritage sites is considered a war crime and has been described by Ukraine's Minister of Culture as cultural genocide.
During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian military have carried out deliberate attacks against civilian targets and indiscriminate attacks in densely-populated areas. The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine says the Russian military exposed the civilian population to unnecessary and disproportionate harm by using cluster bombs and by firing other weapons with wide-area effects into civilian areas, such as missiles, heavy artillery shells and multiple launch rockets. As of 2024, the attacks had resulted in the UN-documented deaths of between 11,000 and estimated 40,000 dead civilians. On 22 April 2022, the UN reported that of the 2,343 civilian casualties it had been able to document, it could confirm 92.3% of these deaths were as a result of the actions of the Russian armed forces.
