Ukraine conflict: Banksy to be sold for children's hospital

The CND symbol featured in the Banksy work is widely known as an international symbol of peace

A rare piece by the Bristol-based street artist Banksy is to be auctioned to raise money for a children's hospital in Ukraine.

An anonymous donor put the 2005 work, CND Soldiers, up for sale last Friday on the website MyArtBroker.

Due to a flurry of bids, the auctioneers are now only accepting bids above £40,000, double the original starting price.

The money raised will be sent to Ohmatdyt Children's Hospital in Kyiv.

The work, which will be sold via silent auction, depicts two soldiers painting graffiti of the symbol for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) on a wall.

The organisation campaigns to rid the world of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.

'Doubling starting bid'

The CND symbol is also widely known as an international symbol of peace.

Joey Syer, head of urban and contemporary at MyArtBroker, said: "We are humbled by the incredible generosity shown in a flurry of bids over the weekend, doubling the starting bid in hours."

Ohmatdyt is the largest children's hospital in Ukraine and is still providing lifesaving treatment as the crisis there continues, MyArtBroker said.

In a statement on its website, the auction house described the continued functioning of the hospital as "a matter of national security" for Ukraine.

As well as continuing to provide medical care for children who were already critically ill before the war, it is also admitting people of all ages injured in the conflict, the auction house added.

Hospital staff have deployed makeshift operating rooms and wards in the basement of each hospital building, with patients also having to take cover underground, it said.