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Ukraine's concerts halls - 7th December 2022

Cities around the world are lit up with Christmas lights. But Ukraine's experiencing black outs. Russia's attacked Ukraine's power system with missiles which has left many cities in darkness.

But concert halls in Kyiv are being lit up with LED candles.

Irina Mikolaenko thinks the concerts show hope and strength.

Irina Mikolaenko: "Now during the time of blackouts, during constant attacks on our power grid, we thought it was a good idea to save energy and give concerts in a good atmosphere. We want to bring inspiration, light and love to people in such a difficult situation and tell people that we are not defeated."

Ukraine's trying to fix the damaged power and water systems. The government fears people getting ill during the winter or more people leaving the country.

Artist Yuriy Solukha thinks the concerts will help calm and destress people.

Yuriy Solukha: "It's a good idea, there's a lot of air sirens and a lot of internal anxiety in people right now. Calm is very important now, because people have a lot of worries about the war, about their loved ones who are in the east of the country, about our military who are defending our country."

Ukraine's prime minister says there's power in 70 percent of the country. But there are frequent power cuts in some regions. These are to save energy. There's an app that tells people when and where the black outs will be. The country also has 5,000 special centres where people can charge their devices and get themselves warm. They can also connect to the internet. But more of these centres are needed.

When people have no electricity for TV or radio, they can go and see live music. These concerts bring people together. They can warm up, until an attack stops the show.

Yuriy Solukha: "We hope there will be no air-raid sirens during the concert, but when our enemy launches rockets during our concert of course we ask the audience to take cover and we stop the concert. After the air-raid sirens have been silenced, we resume our concert, if the curfew permits."