The patriotism of Ukrainians in the war is great. Many risk their lives as volunteer fighters or helpers – others get tattoos. “The war changed people and they started getting tattoos. And their first tattoos are patriotic,” says 27-year-old tattoo artist Schenia. Some had large Ukrainian tridents stabbed, others slogans like “death to the enemy.”
Actress and musician Marusia Ionowa chose a less martial motif. She came to the “Art Weapon” tattoo festival in Kyiv to have the name of the Ukrainian capital inked on her left forearm.
The tattoo artist works with a steady hand, while 27-year-old Ionova explains: When she had to flee Kyiv at the beginning of the Russian invasion, it broke her heart, she says. “That’s why I decided to get the name of my favorite city in the world engraved.”
Tattoo: affiliation with the Azovstal fighters
In the old Soviet-era factory, electronic music mixes with the whirring of tattoo needles. For a young soldier who wishes to remain anonymous, it’s his first tattoo. The 20-year-old wants to commemorate the Azov regiment. Many members of this regiment have been under Russian fire for weeks in a steel mill in Mariupol, southern Ukraine. Two friends of the soldier are also there.
“They told me they would stand up for Ukraine until they died. I can’t even imagine what’s going on inside them,” he says. In the meantime, 264 of the soldiers are said to have been taken away from the steelworks – albeit in Russian-controlled areas. There should be an exchange of prisoners, it is said.
“It is important for me”
The war that Russia started against Ukraine on February 24 has changed Ukrainians’ attitude towards their country. Support and solidarity are great – be it in the weaving of camouflage nets, the construction of Molotov cocktails or donations to the armed forces.
“It’s a new feeling that came with the start of the war, an intense feeling,” says Anastasia. The 18-year-old economics student is in the process of getting a trident, the symbol of the Ukrainian coat of arms, tattooed on her lower back. “It’s very important to me,” she says. The tattoos done at the festival are more than patriotic symbols: the proceeds go directly to the army.
Source: Stern
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