Viktor Mikhalev shows roses transformed from weapons and ammunition into flowers of war standing in a workshop in his house in Donetsk, Russian-controlled Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, March 4, 2023. Mikhalev, trained as a welder, lives and works in a house whose fence and door are decorated with forged flowers and grapes. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov)
A blacksmith in the Russian-controlled eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk is practically beating swords into ploughshares, and turning one man’s trash into treasures. Viktor Mikhalev takes weapons and ammunition and produces what he calls the flowers of war.
