In Kiev, a music festival returns as fans, artists and soldiers unite for the inevitable war

KYIV, Ukraine – This year, Ukraine’s biggest music festival struck a different chord. Gone were the international headliners, the huge concert halls and the hundreds of thousands of visitors.

Instead, the country’s most beloved local artists took the stage last weekend at the Atlas Festival to what remained an enthusiastic crowd. The stage was set up in the parking lot of a shopping mall, the only option with a shelter large enough to accommodate the 25,000 people expected in the event of an air attack.

Carefree young people danced, courted and sang, rubbing shoulders with hardened military commanders like famous singers who sang lyrics imbued with national pride. Music was the main objective, but it was also to destroy the illusion that the capital is invulnerable to bloody battles hundreds of kilometers away.

“These types of festivals cannot be separated from the life of the country. The country is at war. The central issues here should be related to war,” said Vsevolod Kozhemyako, a businessman and one of the founders of the 13th “Khartia” Brigade, now part of the Ukrainian National Guard and which defends front line in Kharkiv.

“People who are still young and who do not join (the fight) must understand that they cannot live in a bubble,” he said.

And yet a bubble is precisely what it feels like to be in Kiev, like the war approaches your third year. Although Ukrainian soldiers are killed and injured every day along the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line in the east, the capital contrasts with its bustling bars and clubs.

Every now and then, Kiev comes face to face with war. Two weeks ago, a barrage of Russian missiles destroyed a children’s hospital and a private clinic in one of the deadliest attacks since the large-scale invasion. Residents faced power outages caused by Moscow’s intentional destruction of Ukrainian energy production at the height of a summer heat wave.

In every corner of the music festival – the first time it has been held since Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022 – visitors were confronted with the inescapable reality that their country is a country trapped in a bloody war of attrition. Festival organizers hoped to raise $2.2 million (2 million euros) to help soldiers buy supplies for the front line.

In the mall’s underground parking lot, several military units, from Khartia to 3rd Assault, offered interactive games to attract donations and potential recruits. A first-person shooter offered visitors the chance to improve their target practice by shooting shadowy virtual foot soldiers. In another corner, doctors brandished severed plastic limbs and offered emergency medical training.

The festival ended on Sunday with a much-anticipated performance by Serhii Zhadan and his band Zhadan and Dogs. Zhadan, a celebrated artist dubbed the poet of Donbass, recently joined Khartia.

“It’s just a little break, an opportunity to breathe,” said Zhadan, minutes before taking the stage to an enthusiastic crowd. “The most important things are happening there, on the front lines.”

On stage, Zhadan began with one of his most beloved songs, “Malvi” or “Mallow.” The crowd sang along, word for word. “But what can you do with my hot blood,” they shouted. “Who will come to us.”

Viktoriia Khalis, 18, was excited to see her performance. She had already been to the Atlas festival once, in 2021. The difference is stark, she said.

“The main thing that has changed, unfortunately, is now the festival is linked to donations,” she said. But she also felt more connected to her homeland. “I feel like this whole crowd is related to me. I feel unity.”

She was afraid there would be another Russian airstrike – a music festival with thousands of attendees would be the main target – but said she couldn’t miss the opportunity to see her favorite artists.

For Nadiia Dorofeeva, one of Ukraine’s most famous singers, every concert is different. “Before, when she went on stage, she just thought about whether she looked good, whether she sang well and whether people got what they wanted. But now I dream of not having overhead alarms, I see how people cry at my shows.”

One of Dorofeeva’s songs, “WhatsApp,” is about a girl waiting for her beloved to return from the war. “She washed the phone with tears/Like rainy glass” often brings listeners to tears.

Among the participants was Lieutenant General Serhii Naiev, Deputy Deputy Chief of the General Staff of Ukraine.

“There are well-known artists on stage, they are performing their shows and there are many Ukrainians out there who are donating their money, much-needed money to the armed forces of Ukraine,” he said.

“We understand that our partners support us, but we also understand that we could do a lot alone, to be stronger,” he said.

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