Svyatoslav Vakarchuk arrived on the front with a guitar in hand and wearing a bulletproof vest, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
He met with Ukrainian troops just a few kilometres from Russian positions, near the northeastern city of Barvinkove, not far from Kharkiv.
Afterwards, the lead singer of the pop-rock chart toppers Okean Elzy (Elza’s Ocean) told reporters: “We came here to raise morale, to meet with the guys. They are focused, determined and ready to win."
Change of plans
Before Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine on February 24, Vakarchuk, 46, had been planning an international tour to promote his band’s latest album, the PAP news agency reported.
Instead, for weeks he’s been holding impromptu concerts for his compatriots in trenches, hospitals and refugee centres, as he visits cities threatened by Russian shelling, PAP reported.
Russian offensive in Donbas
Launched earlier this month, the Kremlin’s bid to capture the east of Ukraine has inflicted some heavy casualties on the Ukrainian military, according to news outlets.
No official figures have been released, but Ukrainian soldiers have admitted that “over the past three weeks, the losses have been very big,” according to the PAP report.
As Russia kept up its merciless bombardment, a spokeswoman for one of the Ukrainian units compared “the battle of Donbas” to a game of chess.
“We capture a village, then they capture a village, then we again,” Iryna Rybakova said, as quoted by PAP.
Tuesday is day 62 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, tvp.info