From now on, a helicopter hand-painted by the masters of Petrykiv painting will work at the front - this is a folk Ukrainian painting that originated in the Dnipropetrovsk region several centuries ago, and now it has become recognizable all over the world, TSN reports.  

Artists were asked by the military to paint a warbird, and for this they conducted a whole special operation.

Three artists were brought to the location of the rotorcraft under conditions of strict secrecy.

They worked quickly, because this bird could fly to the task at any moment. 

Masters from Petrykyvka took two days to fly nightingales and red viburnum on an army rotorcraft.

They hurried because they understood that this warbird was needed at the front.

"Every minute he could fly to the task, he is in combat mode and we do everything quickly, quickly," says craftswoman Yuliya. 

The final look of the helicopter surprised even the generals, the artists say.

But the pilots were most happy.

"I have never seen when they were so happy, they could not leave, then the generals came, there was a commission, I think this is the first and not the last," says master Mykola.

The same story began as a joke, when the military came to Petrykyvka for art therapy.

"We discussed that we paint both helmets and sleeves to support our boys.

I say, we won't take less, we'll draw a tank, but they say we don't have a tank, we have a plane," says Yulia.

A few days later, the masters received a military order: to paint a helicopter to raise morale.

They chose the ornament for a long time, but in the end, they say, the helicopter itself suggested what to paint.

"At first we thought, this song "Oh, there's a red viburnum in the meadow", we wanted it with a red viburnum, but the very structure of the helicopter did not allow us to do so.

In the end, flowers and viburnum, that's all, were a purely Petryki ornament of the onion," says Master Ivan. 

The painting deadline was tight: the military gave only two days, but the masters made it.

The painted rotorcraft flew to the task. 

Masters have already decorated dozens of military helmets with flowers, birds and petals.

RPGs and tubes from under the "Javelins" were painted for the auctions.

They are ready, they say, even tomorrow to take on a tank or an armored personnel carrier.

Convinced: the helicopter has already been charged for victory.

"Charged for victory and I'm sure that this is now a talisman for our boys, it has great power," says master Yulia.

Read also:

In Kherson, the Russians aimed at an area they had not yet reached

"We throw them by the collar": despite the enemy's onslaught, the Ukrainian military presses them in the Kharkiv region

Bombed-out houses and life in basements: TSN's exclusive report from the front-line Lyman