DONETSK REGION, Ukraine — Not many rock stars wear flak jackets to a show or pick a gloomy industrial warehouse as a venue. But Sviatoslav Vakarchuk, Ukraine’s biggest rock star, was also not playing to the usual audience on May 16.
At a temporary military base inside a factory building near the Russian front in Donbas, Vakarchuk sank into a battered office chair, unpacked an acoustic guitar, and poured out folk songs and pep talks to dozens of Ukrainian soldiers who had just returned from hellish fighting or were headed back in. He sang for at least 40 minutes and took almost as long to depart as soldiers mobbed him for selfies and autographs.
The showstopper was “City of Mary,” a song honoring the besieged Ukrainian fighters inside the massive Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol. Vakarchuk said he had never been able to write a song on request until Sviatoslav “Kalina” Palamar, the deputy commander of the Azov Regiment, asked him to.
More information: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/05/18/ukraine-rock-star-performs-for-troops/