‘STAND BY UKRAINE’

Watch U2’s Bono and the Edge Perform in Kyiv at Zelensky’s Invitation

The singer and guitarist invited Antytila—a Ukrainian pop-rock act currently serving on the front lines—to join them for part of the acoustic set.

An intimate acoustic set was played in one of Kyiv’s subway stations turned makeshift bomb shelters on Sunday—hardly an uncommon occurrence since the Russian invasion’s beginning, except for the identity of the performers: Bono and the Edge. The U2 singer and guitarist had traveled to the Ukrainian capital city at President Volodymyr Zelensky’s invitation, according to a Sunday tweet from the band. Their social media statement explained that the performance was a “show of solidarity” from the Irish musicians, who performed, among other standards, “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” one of U2’s most popular—and political—songs. “The people in Ukraine are not just fighting for your own freedom, you are fighting for all of us who love freedom,” Bono told the crowd gathered at the Khreshchatyk subway station. “We pray that you will enjoy some of that peace soon.” Later in the concert, during a rendition of Ben E. King’s “Stand by Me,” Bono and the Edge invited Taras Topolia, Serhii Vusyk, and Dmitry Zholud of Antytila, a Ukrainian pop-rock act currently serving as soldiers with the country’s territorial defense forces, to join them onstage.