Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs will throw an outdoor concert "Night Serenades" by the Kyiv Soloists orchestra to raise public awareness and support for some 310 Ukrainians illegally detained in Russia or held as captives by Russian and separatist forces in Ukraine's east. The concert will take place on June 19 on Mykhailivska Square, next to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Military pilot and
parliament member Nadiya Savchenko and filmmaker Oleh Sentsov are among the
prisoners.
Savchenko is on trial
in Moscow on charges of aiding in the killings of two Russian journalists. She
was taken captive on June 18, 2014, in the eastern Ukrainian city of Shchastya
in Luhansk Oblast, controlled by Russian-separatist forces at that time.
Many Ukrainian and
Western politicians have called on Russia to free Savchenko, who has been
holding continuous hunger strikes in prison. She was appointed as Ukraine’s
delegate to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which gives
her a legal immunity, but it didn’t convince her Russian prosecutors to let her
go. The Moscow City Court has extended Savchenko’s detention until Sept. 30.
Crimean movie director Sentsov was accused of
preparing terrorist attacks and was arrested in Crimea on May 11, 2014. He has
been held in a pre-trial prison in Moscow since that time.
Apart from
Savchenko and Sentsov, nine Ukrainians are political prisoners in Russia. At
the same time, 298 Ukrainian soldiers are being
held captive by Russian and separatist forces on the occupied territories in
the eastern Ukraine, according to the State Security Service of Ukraine.
Since the war in Donbas started in spring 2014, some 2,716 Ukrainian
prisoners of war were released from captivity or exchanged.
To support
the Ukrainians detained by Russia and Kremlin-backed separatists, the Kyiv Soloists will perform music composed by Wolfgang Mozart,
Antonin Dvorak, Felix Mendelssohn, Johann Strauss and others. The concert is
free of charge. Those who would like to reserve seats should register online.
The concert will take place on June 19 at 9 p.m. at Mykhailivska
Square. Register for the concert here.
Kyiv
Post staff writer Yuliana Romanyshyn can be reached at [email protected].
