If Ukraine has the capability to “peacefully” welcome a number of tens of hundreds of individuals in kyiv for a music pageant, so why Volodymyr Zelensky he’s reluctant to prepare a new presidential election ? That is the query raised by an Web person on the social community in a post shared a number of thousand instances. He denounces the holding, final weekend in kyiv, of what he presents as l’Atlas festival.
In his submit, a video exhibits a powerful crowd in entrance of a stage on which a number of musicians are standing. On the backside of what seems to be this open-air room, an inscription: Blockbuster Mall. Within the distance on the left, a number of stands. Within the heart of the gang, a management room. All the nice substances of a music pageant.
Photographs which appear nearly unreal at a time when the nation and its capital are below assault by Russian troops, and are typically subjected to lethal strikes.
FAKE OFF
This video is true. Besides that it was not taken through the Atlas pageant. As a result of after a two-year hiatus, this occasion – which historically takes place in July – has been held since 2024 in a safe buying heart in kyiv. In actuality, these photographs present the primary live performance organized outdoor within the Ukrainian capital for the reason that begin of the warfare in opposition to Russia in February 2022. Organized over two days, it occurred final weekend.
Funds raised donated to the Ukrainian military
Introduced on Could 2 by the Ukrainian group Boombox on Instagramwhose singer Andriy Samoylo is a drone pilot within the Ukrainian armed forces and mobilized within the Kherson area, these two concert events on Could 16 and 17 in kyiv aimed to help the Ukrainian troopers despatched to the entrance. “All funds raised (…) can be utilized by the Andriy Khlyvnyuk Basis to buy the mandatory gear for Ukrainian defenders, in accordance with present calls for from the entrance strains,” it’s specified on the Kyiv1 website which relayed the occasion, and on which it was attainable to purchase tickets giving entry to the backstage.
In a video shot by the media United24 and published on the group’s Instagram accountthe Boombox musicians clarify that it had not been attainable, till then, to prepare this charity live performance for safety causes. “We hadn’t performed in Ukraine for a minimum of 5 years as a result of we did not need to endanger our viewers,” explains Oleksii Sohomonov, producer of Boombox and likewise mobilized throughout the Ukrainian military.
Bomb shelters close by
Organized within the parking zone of Blockbuster Mall, the massive buying heart during which the Atlas pageant has been held since 2024, the concert events had been topic to particular precautions upfront. A journalist from CNN Brazil who was on web site confirmed the implementation of particular safety measures. “The occasion occurred through the day, with an finish scheduled for roughly 20 to half-hour earlier than dusk,” when Russian strikes typically happen, he detailed. during a live from kyiv broadcast on the TV channel on Could 17.
“One of many benefits of this place is that there’s a very giant bomb shelter proper right here, so we had extra peace of thoughts,” says Oleksii Sohomonov on Instagram. The close by buying heart has in actual fact been utilized by the inhabitants, for the reason that begin of the warfare, as a shelter throughout air raids, due to its three ranges of underground parking.
As for the comparability between holding a live performance and organizing a presidential election, it’s tough to keep up. Securing a spot supposed to accommodate round 20,000 folks and mobilizing tens of hundreds of thousands of voters to go to the polls throughout the nation doesn’t require the identical degree of safety.
