The group managed to slice off a section of board and plaster bearing the image of a woman in a gas mask and dressing gown holding a fire extinguisher on the side of a scorched building.

“They (people that tried to take the mural) said that they have decided it with him (Banksy). And we ask them, ‘Nobody has ever seen him! How could you decide that with him?'” Alyona, a local resident who confronted the disturbers, told Reuters.

Eight people were spotted at the scene in the city of Hostomel near Kyiv and the mural was retrieved, according to Andrii Nebytov, chief of Kyiv region National Police.

“The expertise will determine the value of the object. Then the detectives and the prosecutors will determine the qualification of such actions,” said Nebytov