CCTV to be used to track down anti-Ukrainian graffiti artists

Letterkenny-Milford Municipal District is to use CCTV in an attempt to track down those responsible for anti-Ukrainian graffiti that has appeared in several locations around the town.

The 'offensive' letter Z has been daubed on walls and buildings near where Ukrainians are living.

The letters have been painted on military vehicles of the Russian Armed Forces involved in the invasion of Ukraine.

The most popular theory used by military experts to explain the letters is that they were written according to the respective areas where the Russian troops are usually stationed, with Z potentially standing for Zapad (west).

Others believe the letters were drawn in an attempt to avoid friendly fire, while some pro-Kremlin Russian military experts have speculated that the letter Z stands for the name of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

The Russian defense ministry itself has not commented on any of the theories and instead posted on its Instagram channel that Z meant Za pobedu (“for victory”). Ironically the letter, Z does not exist in the Cyrillic Russian alphabet.

The letter Z with its various connotations made its way onto the agenda for Tuesday's meeting of the local municipal district where Cllr Jimmy Kavanagh tabled a motion asking the council to put a policy in place for dealing with graffiti.

He said he made no secret of the fact it was primarily dealing with anti-Ukrainian Z graffiti which had sprung up around the town recently.

He said he was contacted by a lady working with Ukrainian families who told him how upset they were by the appearance of such graffiti in Letterkenny.

"This particular family had lost a loved one during the bombing in Kyiv," he said.

The councillor said this was probably the work of a young fellow "doing it for the craic".

"But they need to be made aware of the gravity of what they are doing and the upset and anger it has caused people. It is also creating fear and tension. We all know there are a lot of issues around new people coming into town but everything seems to be landing at the door of the Ukrainians. A lot of  people coming into town are not from Ukraine," he said.

Cllr Kavanagh Ukrainians were here because they were escaping from war.

"They don't want to be here but in my experience, they are very appreciative of the welcome they have got in Donegal and in Ireland generally but this sort of thing is very upsetting for them."

He added several Ukrainians were volunteering with the local Tidy Towns initiatives but going out early in the morning and seeing such graffiti was making things very difficult for them.

"This graffiti is also affecting our Tidy Towns efforts but this doesn't help and there is a financial cost to putting things right and this uses up resources. We have to deal with this in a timely way so it's not sitting on walls for months at an end.

Cllr Kavanagh reminded those responsible that Ireland had its only history of emigration because of things like the Famine and Irish people had experienced their share of racism too.

"We have a bit more experience of this than most nations so we should have a bit more understanding of other people's situations."

He asked the council to work with the Tidy Towns committee on this issue adding they needed to send out a strong message that graffiti like this was totally inappropriate. he suggested CCTV should be used in the search for those responsible.

His motion was seconded by Cllr Donal Coyle said this pro-Russian graffiti in Letterkenny had also appeared in other parts of the municipal district. he urged the council to liaise with the gardaí on this matter.

Mayor Cllr Donal Mandy Kelly said he too had seen the symbols around Letterkenny adding it was time to deal with such matters.

In its official response to the motion, Donegal County Council said it would consider this matter as part of the work of the Climate Action and Environmental Strategic Policy Committee in 2023.