Ukraine concerts light up dark times

Christmas lights have begun lighting up cities around the world, unlike in Ukraine, where they're regularly plunged into darkness due to black outs. As many of the invading troops retreat, Russia's targeting Ukraine's power supplies with its missile attacks.

But against all odds, Kyiv's concert halls are lively with live concerts and lit up with LED candles.

Concert administrator Irina Mikolaenko believes the shows are an act of resistance.

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."

With works underway to restore water and energy supplies to the whole country, measures are being put in place to quell concerns of a health crisis or further exodus of people over the winter. As such, the live shows are an excellent antidote to these anxieties according to artist Yuriy Solukha.

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."

Despite energy providers having 70 percent coverage, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal laments that in order to conserve resources across several regions, frequent power cuts have been planned. In light of this, residents are being equipped with an app to alert them on planned power cuts and 5,000 'invincibility centres' serve as power banks for people needing to boot up their devices, connect to the internet or warm up. However, these centres fail to suffice in a country with a pre-war population of 40 million.

In the event of a power outage where residents have no access to television, radio or data networks, the concerts serve as a haven for warmth and live entertainment. But in the eyes of concert goers, it's an act of defiance.

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."

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