Tomorrow – on July 11 – popular Kharkov music band “Orchestra CHE” will give a free concert in Mariupol for residents of the city. Oleg Kadanov – the soloist of the band, told Informator.lg.ua about their decision to visit a front line city and their attitude to the war.

Your band organized a free concert for residents of Mariupol. How did you decide to do this?

Mariupol is going through hard times now and we wanted to support residents of the city. We wanted to show then, that we remember them, that Mariupol is Ukraine, to support them morally and emotionally. It is difficult to live in a front line city. Situation in Kharkiv was also very tense: there were affords to shake the city, there were several terrorist acts. It was hard to live in such environment.

Concert of the “Orchestra CHE” will take place on Saturday – 11.07.2015 at 19:00 in City Orchard, Mariupol.

We know how does it feel to live when you are not sure about tomorrow: will there be shelling and explosions … We should stay optimistic in such conditions, first of all. We hope to help people relax a little bit.

You live in Kharkov … How do you think, why fighters succeeded in Luhansk and Donetsk and didn’t in Kharkov?

We remember very well that in the beginning of 2014 the situation was shaken in Luhansk and Donetsk regions and in Kharkov and Odessa regions too. And we cannot say that only separatists live in Donbass. There were not so many people, who supported separatists I there. We remember how boys from Rostov, Kursk were delivered there. Ukrainian initiatives were destroyed. Local authorities played a big role too. People in Kharkov and Odessa started to counteract, maybe because activists there were more organized.

How do you think what can common person do to stop this madness?

I think that humans’ will power can counteract aggression. We cannot give up, say that everything has been decided, that it is a fate, destiny. Everyone has to do his best and then we will stand our ground. Because it is not just a war against Russia, it is a confrontation between an old Soviet approaches and image of world and new world, more progressive, young and modern. We have to love our country and fight for it. In a war time we cannot say that we are apolitical and stay aside. We have to try to be better day by day.

Anton Goloborodko for the Informator.lg.ua