00:00For many people in Kyiv, there is little to look forward to this summer.
00:09But for music lovers, there is this.
00:15This is Atlas United, Ukraine's largest music festival, revived this year despite the war.
00:24Three days of music, inside and in front of a shopping mall.
00:30Ukrainian rock band Boombox is headlining the festival.
00:35Atlas is a breath of fresh air in a time of war.
00:40Before it was easy to rock, but now the mood is very depressed, which is bad for work,
00:46and we have to resist.
00:50We have no other time to live and celebrate, so we should celebrate life and show everyone
00:55that despite the war, our life continues.
01:04This is the largest gathering in Ukraine during this war.
01:07More than 60,000 people are expected to attend Atlas weekend, not even two weeks after the
01:12latest large-scale attack by Russia that killed many here in Kyiv and across the country.
01:19The shopping mall underground car park can serve as a bomb shelter for 20,000 people.
01:25Pretty much everyone expected to attend daily.
01:29There is even a stage down here.
01:31And there is merchandise for sale.
01:34It's almost like any festival, just that here military units are selling, promoting and
01:41collecting donations.
01:44I've got a sticker with a hat and a little badge to support the 3rd Separate Assault
01:48Brigade.
01:53The goal is to collect 100 million hryvnias, that's about 2.3 million euros for the military.
02:02In the third year of the war, it's much harder to raise funds now than in the first or second,
02:06because there's a certain fatigue and a financial fatigue too.
02:12Talking to us during rehearsal, Boombox singer Andriy Khlyvenyuk had just returned from the
02:17front line, where he serves in a combat unit of the National Police.
02:22It's not about rock and roll anymore, but I feel like I'm representing the country.
02:30Boombox had permission to leave the country, and earlier this year spent three weeks playing
02:34concerts in the US and Canada, to shine a light on the war in Ukraine and raise money.
02:4185-90% supported by the donations people do.
02:46In the modern warfare, things changed a little bit, so you need a lot more different devices
02:53to stay alive and to do the job well.
02:57Some criticized the festival going ahead despite the war, but Khlyvenyuk argued in favor.
03:06You don't want to come back to a monastery, you want to come back home full of life, where
03:16people smile when there's music.
03:18A life without music is not worth fighting for, actually.
03:26This weekend, Atlas United raised funds and smiles.
03:30And most importantly, there was no attack.
03:34Money is still coming in for the military.
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