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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 each 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 saved 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 yr 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 mates referred to as her Sveta – performed guitar and sang backup. They liked 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.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
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 group – our mates,” 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.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SIMILAR GIRLS: (Singing in Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: Their family and friends stated their earnings went to the Ukrainian navy. Kristina’s father is within the Nationwide Guard. On August 9, the duo had a night gig in Zaporizhzhia though Russian missiles have been hitting town these days. It is not 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 Struggle.” They devoted it to Kherson, one other Ukrainian metropolis beneath fixed Russian shelling.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SPITSYNA: (Talking Ukrainian).
KAKISSIS: “Thanks for current,” Kristina says, “and because of 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 evening. After the present, they went for a stroll. Mykyta stayed behind to observe their tools. And someday later, he heard an explosion. Rescue employees prevented him from going anyplace close to it. Sveta didn’t reply her cellphone.
MYKYTA TUNYK: (By means of interpreter) We referred to as Kristina, and he or she 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 ladies have been discovered beneath 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 mates 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 consider 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 elsewhere 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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