A mural by the French street artist Christian Guemi, known under the pseudonym C215, appeared in the center of Kyiv on the administrative building of the Verkhovna Rada. This was reported by the Ukrainian Parliament on Facebook on Saturday.

Oleksandr Matsievsky’s mother and a portrait of her sonPhoto: Giorgos Moutafis / WillWest News / Profimedia

The mural depicts Oleksandr Matsievskyi, a prisoner of war who shouted “Glory to Ukraine” before being executed by Russian troops on December 30, 2022. A video of the execution appeared and caused outrage across the country.

In March, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi posthumously awarded Matsievsky the title of Hero of Ukraine.

Fought under Soledar

As reported in the “Pivnich” DVO Department of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, on December 30, 2022, Matsievskyi, together with four comrades, entered into battle with Russian formations near Soledar.

Reinforcements were unable to break through to the position due to continuous mortar and small arms fire, the 119th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade said.

More details about this battle are not known, in particular, how exactly Matsievsky was captured. His comrades were either dead or missing.

Before the Russian invasion, Oleksandr Matsievsky worked as an electrician in Kyiv. After the start of the war, he volunteered for the territorial defense of the city of Nizhyn, Chernihiv region.

“Hero of Ukraine”, born in Chisinau

Sasha, as his relatives affectionately called him, was born on May 10, 1980 in the Republic of Moldova, where his mother, Paraskovia Mykhailivna, was sent. She worked as a technologist at a shoe factory in Chisinau. There, Oleksandr later graduated from high school and an electrical engineering college. Then the family returned to Nizhyn, in Ukraine.

Until February 2022, Oleksandr worked as an electrician in Kyiv. From the first day of the war, he went to Nijin, but could not immediately join the army. He helped build fortifications, monitored the checkpoint, prepared bottles with Molotov cocktails and insisted on returning to the conscription point. On March 11, he was enrolled in the Territorial Defense Battalion of the city of Nijin.

In December, when the battalion was about to be sent to the east, Alexander did not tell his mother that he was going to a zone of active hostilities, because he did not want her to worry. Saying goodbye to his mother, he thanked her for giving birth to him.

On December 29, he called his mother, and that was their last conversation. After Sahaa said, “Mom, I’ll never give up!”, she knew her son was on the front lines.

Sashka’s mother met him again in the Kyiv morgue, where she recognized him.

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