Since the war broke out, the contrast between the Russian narrative and what we witness while watching footage published on the internet and listening to the conflict’s participants on the Ukrainian side, creates a mountain of paradoxes. Serhiy Kolyada, a Ukrainian political illustrator and TVP World’s guest, shared with us some inside of his work and how the ongoing war impacted it.

“When I came to Kyiv in 1997, I saw these social and political contrasts in the city,” he said. “In the centre, one can see expensive cars, rich life… I still live on the left bank of the Dnipro river, it is not so ‘rich’ there.”

“I have read a lot of literature by Taras Shevchenko (Ukrainian 19th century poet, writer and artist), who depicted this contrast and I tried to show that the things have not changed much since,” Mr Kolyada said, stressing that he aims to explain to the public that the life “is still the same.”

As he pointed out, in Ukraine there are still many poor people while the rich minority use their position to continuously spread their sphere of influence.

However, the illustrator said that after the war broke out, his art shifted into a quite different direction.

“Now I am trying to show that Ukraine is my beloved country and point out all the cruel aspects of the Russian aggression.”