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On a street in the middle of hard-hit Kharkiv, Hamlet Zinkivskiy stops and stares at a series of shattered windows that resembled a mosaic, its shards glinting in the sun, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.
"If you don't think about the death and destruction, it looks beautiful," said Zinkivskiy, a street artist who was born in Ukraine's second-largest city and, like others here, has watched and endured as it has been battered by Russian bombs and rockets.
Long before the large-scale Russian invasion began in February, the shaven-headed, chain-smoking 35-year-old became known in Ukraine and beyond for his spare, sometimes brooding black-and-white murals that changed the face of Kharkiv and became emblems of a new generation trying to break away from the city's stagnant post-Soviet identity.
Zinkivskiy's beloved hometown, located just about 30 kilometers from the Russian border, has been hit hard since the invasion began. On its first day, February 24, Russian troops reached the city's northern suburbs, putting its future in question.
