An auction of Banksy works to raise funds to help victims of the Russian invasion of Ukraine was attacked by hackers from Russia, event organizers said Tuesday.
The bid, announced by the Legacy of War Foundation, concerns 50 serigraphs by the British artist, estimated at between 5,550 euros and 6,100 dollars (from 100,000 to 115,000 pesos).
The work represents a white mouse with its hooves tearing a cardboard with the inscription “Fragile”.
No buyer can acquire more than one copy, numbered and with a certificate of authenticity.
“More than a million applications were received” to participate in the auction, but the portal had to face “3,500 Russian IP [addresses of Internet devices] attacks,” the association said, adding that it will “quickly” communicate who they were. selected buyers.
“I made 50 screen prints and all the benefits will go to our friends in Ukraine,” Banksy, a sought-after street artist whose true identity is unknown, had indicated on Instagram.
The proceeds should be used to buy ambulances, electricity generators, heating systems and solar-powered lamps to alleviate the blackouts caused by Russian bombing in the dead of winter and to come to the aid of women and members of the LGBTQ community in Ukraine.
In mid-November Banksy posted on his Instagram account photos of a work painted on a bombed-out building in Borodianka, a kyiv suburb that has become a symbol of Russian atrocities, a way of confirming that he was the author.
Several works made with Banksy-style stencils appeared in and around kyiv earlier that month.
In December, Ukrainian police foiled an attempted theft of a work attributed to the famous artist on a wall on the outskirts of kyiv.
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