Activists have poured yellow and blue paint on the road just outside the Russian embassy in London in a striking show of solidarity with Ukraine.
Led By Donkeys, a campaign group, recreated a giant Ukrainian flag on Bayswater Road, near Hyde Park, the day before the one-year anniversary of the war.
On Friday it will have been 12 months since Vladimir Putin ordered his troops into Ukrainian territory under the guise of a “special military operation”, supposedly an effort to oust the “Nazis” in power in Kyiv (a baseless claim the Kremlin has been pushing for months).
But after the flag was painted, police reportedly arrested at least four people who had been carrying the paint around in wheelbarrows, distributing it evenly across the roads for their stunt.
Three men and one woman were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and obstructing the highway, the Metropolitan Police confirmed to MyLondon.
Still, the campaigners championed the moment online, tweeting: “Tomorrow is the first anniversary of Putin’s imperialist invasion of Ukraine, an independent state and a people with every right to self-determination. The existence of a massive Ukrainian flag outside his embassy in London will serve to remind him of that.”
The embassy has yet to post a public response to the act.
Led By Donkeys has a reputation for large public stunts, and has taken aim at the Tory government repeatedly over partygate, the migrant crisis, and Liz Truss’s disastrous approach to the economy.
The Russian embassy also raised eyebrows earlier in February for responding to Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to the UK by threatening that there would be “consequences” for the whole world if London chose to send Ukraine its fighter jets.
It also claimed that the Ukrainian president’s whole visit was “obviously” meant to prepare the Western public for more of “Kiev” – notably using the Russian spelling for the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv – and its “regime’s constant demands”.
The embassy concluded its message with a chilling warning: “We would like to remind London: in the event of such a scenario, the death toll of yet another round of escalation, as well as its military-political consequences for the European continent and the whole world will be on the United Kingdom’s hands.
“Russia will know how to respond to any unfriendly actions by the British side.”