Ahead of the concert, Ukraine Today spoke with Vira Savchenko, the sister of the most prominent Ukrainian detainee in Russia, a Ukrainian female pilot Nadiya Savchenko seen by many as the symbol of the nation’s resistance against the Kremlin’s aggression.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin and representatives of human rights organizations spoke about ten more cases of Ukrainians unlawfully held in prison in the neighboring aggressor state. Those citizens, along with the Crimean activist Oleh Sentsov, arrested on dubious charges by Russian law enforcement over a year ago, were honored with the open air concert directed by U.S. national Dmitry Yablonsky, a prominent musician with global recognition.

According to Ukrainian officials, the concert aims to catalyze international efforts to release more captive Ukrainians, whom it says are prisoners of war.

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