When addressing participants at the Shangri-La Dialogue, which is an annual security event sponsored by Singapore, President Volodymyr Zelensky was seen wearing a T-shirt made by a Singaporean student. This was a departure from the brown or olive green T-shirts that he often wears.
On the front of the black shirt he wore on Saturday, there was a design of a young woman carrying a container of spray paint while standing on a step ladder in front of the flag of Ukraine.
Ava Soh, who is just 16 years old and the creator of the shirt, stated on the website of her firm, Daughters of the Revolution, that the design depicts a young Ukrainian girl who is courageously creating a new future because self-belief is the finest way to give the middle finger to tyranny.
Ms. Soh said in an interview with a Singaporean news site called The Straits Times that she had given the T-shirt to Mr. Zelensky through the Ukrainian Embassy in Singapore with the expectation that he would wear it in a photograph or a video clip. She had very low expectations that he would wear the shirt in front of the other 500 attendees at the event.
During his speech that lasted for a total of 12 minutes, Mr. Zelensky used the design that Ms. Soh had created as an illustration of the support that Ukraine has gotten from all around the globe.
In his presentation on Saturday, he told the audience that “this support and attention is not just for Ukraine, but for you as well.” On the battlefields of Ukraine, the laws that will govern the rest of the globe are now up for debate and will be decided there.
When Mr. Zelensky gives lectures, he often wears T-shirts of an olive green and brown colour combination that occasionally incorporate a cross symbolising Ukraine’s armed forces.
The demands for Ms. Soh’s remark were not met with a response. Ms. Soh announced on her website that the revenues from the sale of the “Spray Paint Ukraine” t-shirt and non-fungible tokens based on the design will be given to the Ukrainian Embassy in Singapore. She said in an interview with The Straits Times that she had made the request to the embassy to redistribute the monies to individuals who are in need.
