Orchestra Plays National Anthem in Central Kyiv as Russians Advance

In an act of defiance on a Kyiv square where recent uprisings have scuppered Moscow’s ambitions in Ukraine, an orchestra assembled before a small crowd on Wednesday to play the national anthem as Russian forces advanced on the city. The Kyiv-Classic Symphony Orchestra also played an excerpt from Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”, on which the European Union’s anthem is based – a nod to the Ukraine government’s desire to move closer to Europe and away from Russia’s orbit.

Dozens of people gathered to watch on the central Maidan Square, some waving Ukrainian flags. They applauded when the national anthem was finished and a woman cried out “To Ukraine!”

The concert was held on the vast square where thousands of Ukrainian protesters set up a tent city in 2013 and 2014 to oppose then-President Viktor Yanukovich’s shock decision to suspend talks with the EU and revive ties with Moscow. More than 100 protesters were killed in clashes with security forces, and in 2014 Yanukovich was toppled and forced to flee the country.

A decade earlier, the square had been a major gathering place for participants in the so-called “Orange Revolution,” that overturned a disputed election won by Yanukovich and led to the pro-Western leader Viktor Yushchenko taking his place.