A Ukrainian rock star is touring his homeland trying to raise the morale of soldiers and civilians by belting out lyrics from songs inspired by love and war.
Sviatoslav “Slava” Vakarchuk, lead vocalist for Okean Elzy, the most successful rock band in Ukraine, told The National that Ukrainians have the tenacity to win the war against President Vladimir Putin’s forces.
But he said that if the UK and western nations stop short in punishing Mr Putin, it could leave the door open to a wider conflict in Europe.
The musician, 46, this week visited the eastern city of Kharviv, which has come under heavy fire from the Russian army. In a show of defiance, he was filmed standing in the city’s central square declaring: “Russia will pay for this!”
Vakarchuk, a social activist and former MP, said his aim is to “pump up the mood and raise the tempo” of his fellow countrymen and women facing off against Russian invaders.
While he once entertained packed stadiums alongside his fellow bandmates, he now belts out lyrics to wounded soldiers and weary medical staff.
His patriotic songs have been given a boost in the music charts in recent days as Ukrainians around the world turn to his lyrics for inspiration while their homeland is under attack.
Lyrics from the band’s most popular songs are intertwined with references to war and Ukrainian pride.
“There, left and right, gardens are blossoming; There, left and right, there are foreign footsteps; Exhausted by wars, but not broken by anyone; May my land blossom,” the lyrics of one hit song say.
He said the soldiers always react positively to his performances, responding “slava Ukraini” — “glory to Ukraine”.
“When you are in this state where you feel desperate and anxious, it is very inspiring that somebody who you know, a well-known person, comes to you without any fear, joins you in the city and gives videos,” the band leader told The National.
“So, I think it is a good moral and spiritual support.”
“The spirit of people is very high, it’s very competent,” he added. “People don’t want war but they are ready to fight until the end and we will. Their spirits are so high so I don’t have any doubt that we will win, sooner or later.”
Vakarchuk said he “won’t hesitate a second” to take up arms, but for now, he is using his voice to help his country.
He appealed to the outside world to punish Russia for its invasion of the former Soviet nation, warning of the possibility of a wider European conflict if Mr Putin feels emboldened.
The only way to stop Mr Putin in his tracks, he argued, would be to make life so difficult for Russians that they feel compelled to protest and rise up against their leader’s war.
He backed a call put out by the British Liberal Democrats for the government to seize properties owned by Mr Putin’s associates and for them to be used to temporarily house Ukrainian refugees.
Insisting he is not a socialist and that he believes in free markets, he said a different approach was needed in a “war situation”.
“I don’t think Winston Churchill was worried about market economy in Europe during Blitzkrieg,” he said.
“I know that in the UK and the western world private property is sacrosanct and it’s a very important rule but I think [the governments should enact] some measures to take these things away from [oligarchs].
“Russian oligarchs are a key to Putin. They are influential, they need to come to him and to yell and to persuade and to stop him and hold his hands.”
Vakarchuk also called on Britain and its allies to send more weapons to Ukraine, particularly “modern, serious, high-tech weapons, anti-missile weapons and aeroplanes”.
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Damage after the shelling of buildings in central Kharkiv, Ukraine. EPA -
Workers from a local construction company weld anti-tank obstacles to be placed on roads around Kyiv as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues. Reuters -
Anti-war protesters attach sunflowers to barriers in front of the Russian embassy. Reuters -
Ukrainian volunteers prepare food for displaced people outside Lviv railway station in western Ukraine. AP -
A Ukrainian soldier holds an anti-tank launcher north-east of Kyiv. AFP -
Ukrainian refugees rest at Warsaw East train station in Poland. EPA -
Children look out from a carriage window as a train prepares to depart from a station in Lviv to the town of Uzhhorod near the border with Slovakia. AFP -
A girl who fled Ukraine is reunited with her father in Medyka, south-eastern Poland. AP Photo -
Tears outside a house damaged by a Russian airstrike in Gorenka, on the outskirts of Kyiv. AP Photo -
A civil defence member is poised to shoot as a vehicle approaches a checkpoint in Gorenka. AP Photo -
A Ukrainian civil defence member in the garden of a house damaged by a Russian airstrike. AP Photo -
Members of the US Army 3rd Infantry Division board a plane bound for Germany in Savannah, Georgia. EPA -
Prayers for peace in Ukraine at the Vatican's Saint Peter's Square. AFP -
A woman (right) hugs an arriving passenger from a train carrying refugees at Berlin's central station. EPA -
Firefighters battle a blaze in a Kharkiv police building hit by shelling. AFP -
A Ukrainian woman makes a phone call after crossing the Slovakian border. AFP -
A doctor takes shelter in the basement of a Kyiv perinatal centre. Reuters -
Debris which locals say was caused by shelling in separatist-controlled Horlivka, Donetsk. Reuters -
MPs in London give a standing ovation to Ukraine ambassador Vadym Prystaiko, who was in the public gallery. AP -
Distraught women and children fleeing Ukraine wait to enter Poland at the Korczowa crossing. Getty -
Newborn Ivan lies next to his mother as they shelter in the basement of a Kyiv perinatal centre. Reuters -
Firefighters hand water to people in a Ukrainian train full of refugees in Przemysl, Poland. Reuters -
Ukrainian refugees queue to file for residency permits at Prague's police headquarters. AFP -
Firefighters work to contain a blaze in buildings housing the Kharkiv regional police department. AFP -
A woman and her children sit in a tent in the Kyiv subway, using it as a bomb shelter. AP -
Firefighters work to extinguish a blaze at the Kharkiv National University building, which city officials said was damaged by Russian shelling. Reuters -
An elderly woman comforts a child as they take shelter inside an underground station in Kyiv. Reuters -
People queue at a pharmacy in central Kyiv. Reuters -
A woman is consoled by a volunteer after fleeing from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, at the border crossing in Siret, Romania. Reuters -
A Ukrainian civilian in the city of Zhytomyr practises throwing petrol bombs. Reuters -
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy poses after an interview with Reuters in Kyiv. Reuters -
A blast is seen at Kyiv's TV tower. Reuters -
A girl in Siret, Romania, covers herself with a blanket after fleeing from Ukraine. Reuters -
Ukraine's ambassador to the US, Oksana Markarova, acknowledges applause from US first lady Jill Biden as they attend President Joe Biden's first State of the Union address in Washington. AFP -
A man walks past the remains of Russian military vehicles in Bucha, close to Kyiv. AFP -
Civilians cross a river on a blown-up bridge on Kyiv's northern front. Defending the capital is a 'key priority', Ukraine's president has said. AFP -
Russian aircraft on the ground at Luninets Airbase, Belarus, about 50 kilometres north of the Ukrainian border. AFP -
People look at the gutted remains of Russian military vehicles on a road in the town of Bucha. AP -
A woman with a child who fled from the war in Ukraine reunite with their family after crossing the border in Medyka, Poland. AP -
Animal keeper Kirilo Trantin comforts an elephant at Kyiv Zoo. AP -
An armed man stands by the remains of a Russian military vehicle in Bucha. AP -
Ukrainian families say goodbye as they prepare to board a bus to Poland at Lviv, western Ukraine. AP -
Paramedics move a man who was wounded by shelling in a residential area of Mariupol, south-eastern Ukraine. AP -
Rescuers work at the site of a Russian strike in Zhytomyr. Reuters -
US actor and director Sean Penn attends a press briefing at the Presidential Office in Kyiv. Reuters -
Demonstrators participate in a protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at Lafayette Square in Washington. AFP -
Ukrainian soldiers rest while others eat near the front line with Russian troops in northern Kyiv. AP -
A barricade made of trams, buses and sand bags is seen through the window of car in the northern part of Kyiv. AP -
Members of the European Parliament applaud after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's speech at a special session to debate its response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Reuters -
Ambassadors and diplomats walk out as Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (on screen) speaks during a recorded message at the 49th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. EPA
His 28-year-old stepdaughter is fighting with Ukraine’s Territorial Defence Unit, while his wife and nine-month-old son have retreated to a safe area of the country.
And as he travels around his country, Vakarchuk hopes the harrowing scenes he witnesses will one day be nothing more than history taught to younger generations.
“I hope when [my son] grows up, he will remember zero from what’s going on now so he will read it in history books or watch it in the movies.”
