Sunday, June 29, 2014

Odesa knows what it wants

Okean Elzy are probably the most successful and popular rock band in Ukraine's history. They was formed in 1994 in Lviv. The band's vocalist and frontman is Svyatoslav Vakarchuk.

Okean Elzy are also popular in most CIS countries

The band firmly supported  and performed at the Euromaidan-protests in Kyiv last winter.

On June 22, the day after Ukraine declared a ceasefire in the east of the country, 70,000 people enjoyed a 20th anniversary concert in Kyiv staged by the band. The frontman’s message to the audience was that a united Ukraine can achieve anything. [Reuters video, with brief Vakarchuk interview here]

Yesterday, the band performed in Odesa in front of around 50,000 fans - the biggest concert ever seen in the city.

The stadium was filled with yellow and blue flags and lights - even more than were seen during the Euromaidan, according to people shouting in the fan zone..
[Photos and brief video at this link]

Anyone who has visited the city will know it is almost entirely Russophone...

p.s. ...compare with this:

In Kharkiv around 100 generally older folks with red flags  protested against the conducting of anti-terrorist actions this Sunday..

In April many if not most residents in the Donbas were in favour of the creation of a possible Donetsk People's Republic. Since then many local businessmen, both large and small in the Donbas region have been systematically subjected to extortion and have frequently been held hostage by Donetsk People's Republic mobsters..According to this report from Censor.net.ua, now all they want is for the Ukrainian army to come as quickly as possible and end the disorder..






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