A Russian missile has killed a promising younger musical duo as Ukraine pleads for extra air protection weapons from its western allies.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Air raid sirens go off every single day in Ukraine – generally a number of occasions a day – to warn that Russian forces have fired missiles and drones at cities and neighborhoods across the nation. Like most Ukrainians, a younger musical duo knew that these missiles might sometime hit them, however they stored on singing. NPR’s Joanna Kakissis has their story from southeastern Ukraine.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SIMILAR GIRLS: (Singing in Ukrainian).
JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE: Svitlana Siemieikina and Kristina Spitsyna began performing collectively final 12 months as a duo referred to as Related Women.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SIMILAR GIRLS: (Singing in Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: Twenty-one-year-old Kristina sang lead vocals. Eighteen-year-old Svitlana – her pals referred to as her Sveta – performed guitar and sang backup. They cherished performing Ukrainian rock songs.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SIMILAR GIRLS: (Singing in Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: They went busking round Ukraine and uploaded movies of their performances to Instagram and TikTok.
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SVITLANA SEMEYKINA: (Talking Ukrainian).
KRISTINA SPITSYNA: (Talking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: On this video, they’re speaking about their adventures within the central metropolis of Dnipro. “We’re having a lot enjoyable as a result of we got here right here with our assist workforce – our pals,” Sveta says within the video. “And our poor boyfriends,” Kristina provides, “who carried all our tools.”
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SIMILAR GIRLS: (Singing in Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: Related Women usually carried out in Zaporizhzhia, a metropolis that is close to their hometown of Matviivka. On this video, they’re in one of many metropolis’s lush parks. They’re singing about fallen troopers.
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SIMILAR GIRLS: (Singing in Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: Their family and friends stated their earnings went to the Ukrainian army. Kristina’s father is within the Nationwide Guard. On August 9, the duo had a night gig in Zaporizhzhia despite the fact that Russian missiles have been hitting the town these days. It isn’t removed from the frontline.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SIMILAR GIRLS: (Singing in Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: They arrange in a busy neighborhood close to a church and a playground and performed for a few hours. They wrapped up with a tune referred to as “We Will Win This Battle.” They devoted it to Kherson, one other Ukrainian metropolis below fixed Russian shelling.
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SPITSYNA: (Talking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: “Thanks for current,” Kristina says, “and due to these defending Ukraine.”
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SIMILAR GIRLS: (Singing in Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: Sveta’s boyfriend, Mykyta Tunyk, remembers the duo singing their hearts out that night time. After the present, they went for a stroll. Mykyta stayed behind to observe their tools. And someday later, he heard an explosion. Rescue staff prevented him from going wherever close to it. Sveta didn’t reply her cellphone.
MYKYTA TUNYK: (By interpreter) We referred to as Kristina, and she or he managed to choose up her cellphone for six seconds, however she couldn’t say something. Kristina’s mom ran proper into the center of the scene. She was instructed to attend within the ambulance. Then she referred to as me and stated that the women have been discovered below the rubble.
KAKISSIS: Police stated Sveta died immediately and Kristina a short time later. The Related Women have been buried facet by facet of their hometown, Matviivka. Their devoted pals shivered with grief in the summertime rain as mourners threw fistfuls of earth over the coffins.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Talking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: “I could not imagine it till the very finish,” one buddy sobbed.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Talking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: One other questioned possibly she might have saved them. Possibly she might have taken them some place else after the present. “No,” the opposite stated. “It might have been any of us.” Joanna Kakissis, NPR Information, Matviivka, Ukraine.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SIMILAR GIRLS: (Singing in Ukrainian).
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