This year, Ukraine's largest music festival struck a different chord. Gone were the international headliners, the massive performance halls and the hundreds of thousands of visitors.
Music was the main goal, but so was shattering the illusion that the capital is invulnerable to the bloody battles hundreds of kilometres away."Such kind of festivals can't be separated from the life of the country. The country is at war. The core issues here should relate to the war," said Vsevolod Kozhemyako, a businessman and one of the founders of the 13th "Khartia" Brigade, now a part of Ukraine's National Guard and defending the frontline in Kharkiv.
In the mall's basement parking lot, various military units, from Khartia to the 3rd Assault, offered interactive games to lure donations and possible recruits. A first-person shooter game offered visitors a chance to improve target practice by gunning down shadowy virtual infantrymen. In another corner, medics brandished severed plastic limbs and offered emergency medical training.
She was scared there would be another Russian air attack — a music festival with thousands of attendees would be a prime target — but said she couldn't miss a chance to see her favorite artists."Before, when I entered a stage I was thinking only about if I looked good, sang well and if the people got what they came for. But now, I dream of having no air alarms, I am seeing how people cry at my concerts.