A wide-ranging public discussion is taking place in Ukraine over what to do with seven street murals painted in November by the British artist

The conversation has grown urgent after thieves last month made off with one artwork from the town of Hostomel, about 25km outside the capital. It shows a woman in a gas mask and dressing gown holding a red fire extinguisher. She is standing next to a real flame-blackened window, Qazet.az reports.

Banksy painted the image and six others during an unpublicised trip to Ukraine. He later acknowledged in a video that they were his work, done “in solidarity” with the Ukrainian people. The Instagram post showed the artist at work – his identity obscured – as well as interviews with local people walking amid ruins.

On 2 December, a group of men chiselled the dressing gown woman from the side of a scorched wall. When challenged by a local person, they claimed to be representatives of Neo-Eco, a French charity which is reconstructing the wrecked Hostomel housing estate using recycled materials.