Tattoo nation Anti-tank missiles and a loaf of bread express spirit of resistance

Ukrainians are inking the fight for their country on to their bodies, with artists getting requests for tattoos of molotov cocktails, anti-tank missiles and even a type of bread that has become an unlikely symbol of national identity because Russians struggle to pronounce it.

As Kyiv residents filtered back to the capital once Russian troops abandoned their attempts to seize it, tattoo artists noticed an increasing demand for art that paid tribute to this spring of tragedy and violence, and to Ukraine's spirit of resistance.

"I wanted to capture this moment,” said Mariika, a tattoo artist who now has an anti-tank hedgehog on her leg, and a molotov cocktail on her arm.

She has stayed in Kyiv throughout the war, watching the tales she heard as a young girl become terrifying reality. “I never thought I would live through something like this. My grandmother was a child of war, but her stories seemed so distant. Hiding in the basement from bombs is never something I thought would happen to me.”

For several Saturdays she has joined a group of tattoo artists gathered in a Kyiv party district for a fundraising day at a nightclubs, currently out of action because of the war and curfew.