An online sale of works by artist Banksy intended to raise funds for civilians in Ukraine has been the target of a computer attack from Russian IP addresses, organizers have claimed.
The Legacy of War Foundation organized the sale in December of 50 serigraphs by the British artist at a unit price of 5,000 pounds sterling (about 8,150 $CA), representing a sliding white mouse, the claws planted in a box stamped “fragile “.
The sale of works, numbered and certified, was limited to one copy per buyer.
“The site has received over a million requests (and 3,500 hostile attacks from Russian IP addresses),” the foundation said on its website.
Banksy had indicated on Instagram that the profits from the sale of these 50 serigraphs “will go to our friends in Ukraine”.
They will be used in particular to buy ambulances, generators, heaters and solar lamps for populations deprived of electricity and to continue to help shelters for women and the LGBTQ community, according to the association.
In mid-November, Banksy posted a video on his Instagram account compiling his stenciled works in Ukraine, including one representing an individual wearing a gas mask in Gostomel, thus confirming to be the author.
In Ukraine, the artist was in contact with the Legacy War Foundation, whose teams he saw bringing “care, heating, water, and a friendly face for people in despair in a bombed-out building”, he said. he explained on the foundation’s website.
“They also lent me one of their ambulances to work,” he said, “which came in extremely handy when an angry babushka (grandmother) found me painting on his building and called the police.