“Flowers of Victory”: Ukraine creates sculpture as evidence of russia’s crimes

Ukraine is implementing an artistic and historical project “Flowers of Victory”, which involves the creation of a sculpture from captured military equipment combined with metal fragments from destroyed civilian, industrial and cultural facilities.

The project was presented at the Media Center Ukraine.

The sculpture created within the framework of the initiative will serve as a comprehensive proof of russia’s crimes against the Ukrainian people.

The author and sculptor of the piece is Bohdan Mazur, a renowned Ukrainian artist, a laureate of the Taras Shevchenko State Prize and People’s Artist of Ukraine. The base of the sculpture features a russian infantry fighting vehicle destroyed by Ukrainian defenders during intense battles in Kyiv oblast in 2022.  The idea behind the sculpture is to show sunflowers sprouting from the enemy’s equipment.

“The project began with a brave woman from Henichesk, who told the occupiers to put sunflower seeds in their pockets so that sunflowers would grow from them when they fell on our land, as they had come to destroy Ukraine and other countries like Georgia. This idea inspired the concept of the sculpture – sunflowers growing out of a russian infantry fighting vehicle,” explained Oleksandr Kuklyshyn, the project leader and head of the NGO “Green Stripe”.

The sculpture will include metal fragments collected from the sites targeted by russian strikes. Some fragments were provided by doctors from the Ohmatdyt National Children’s Hospital, specifically from the toxicology wing, which was damaged during an enemy attack. Other fragments come from the aftermath of the missile strike on the center of Vinnytsia in July 2022.

Citizens, companies and organizations are also invited to contribute metal fragments from missile strikes to become part of this historical sculpture. All information about the donated fragments will be documented in a memorial book.

The “Flowers of Victory” project is expected to be completed within a year, with the sculpture unveiled in early fall 2025. It will also be exhibited internationally, with presentations planned in approximately 10 European countries and various regions of Ukraine. The final installation is planned for Kyiv.

“It is very important that these material pieces of evidence travel to Europe and are exhibited. We are documenting this to show future generations of Ukrainians and Europeans who russians really are,” added Oleksandr Kuklyshyn.

Read more: https://mediacenter.org.ua/news