00:00This in the studio is a key member of the avant-garde movement in Ukraine.
00:04She's Ruslana Khazipova, artist, actress, musician, multi-talented.
00:09It's a pleasure to meet you, a privilege to meet you.
00:12You're a wonderful personality, but the circumstances of our meeting,
00:15of course, that you're here because you are a refugee from the war.
00:18You left Kyiv at the start of the war.
00:21You've been here for the past four years.
00:23I'm wondering what's going through your mind, having seen our reports,
00:26having been watching what's going on today, hearing what's going on.
00:29What are your thoughts today, Ruslana?
00:31We are making lots of different projects.
00:35We try to make different collaborations with different countries
00:39to be part of this kind of society, to involve Ukrainian culture,
00:46to share with people that we exist, we are Ukrainians,
00:51we have our own roots, roots of culture, our own art,
00:55and we try to spread it all over the world because it's so important.
01:01For example, 10 years ago, people in France, they asked us,
01:07so Ukraine, is it Russian colony?
01:10Still.
01:11So our mission was started since a long time ago to tell people
01:17that we are something much earlier than a Russian civilization.
01:24Because what we've heard about in the report there,
01:26about the way, for instance, the children have been taken from Ukraine,
01:29sent to Russia, and forced to speak Russian, not Ukrainian.
01:32And two children there in occupied Ukraine were actually subject
01:36to the same kind of restrictions, the suppression of the language.
01:40This, again, is something you can tell us more about.
01:42Go ahead.
01:43This is what they did since a long time.
01:45They always burn our books.
01:47They always want to rewrite our history.
01:52For them, it was very important that Kyivian Rus, it was Russian Rus,
02:00but it wasn't like that.
02:03So I was born in the Soviet Union,
02:06and I still remember my school in Russian language,
02:09and I still remember my love to learn Ukrainian language,
02:14to read in Ukrainian.
02:16And then I studied in Seat University already in Ukrainian course.
02:22So it was a bit like a victory for us.
02:25But still, we had even now a lot of Russian involved in our society life,
02:33even not in a government level, you know.
02:36So it's big evil with whom my grandmother lived,
02:42had war, after war, the Soviet Union, Holocaust, yeah.
02:49And my mother and me, we still have this war.
02:54My child, he knows what it is.
02:59So this is a long story of very bad communication with Russia.
03:06What are you hoping to achieve through your art,
03:09through the things that you are doing?
03:10You've mentioned about performances you're doing to try to spread the word
03:13about Ukraine and what it has,
03:15and the great cultural heritage that it has,
03:17which perhaps has been, in a sense,
03:21Russia has tried to suppress that in many ways.
03:24You're aiming beyond that.
03:26You're looking to sort of really to educate the world about what Ukraine is.
03:28Yeah.
03:29We are here to show people that we are not victims.
03:36We are sacrificing our lives to protect freedom and democracy all over the world,
03:42because we know that not only Russia wants to destabilize this world,
03:47also China and Iran and different kind of dictatorship countries,
03:52with whom we need to fight in different ways,
03:57because it's not only soldiers, it's internet, internet bot, chat bot,
04:04different kind of people who want to destabilize this situation.
04:09And we are here just to show people, like, if I can say, like, example,
04:15how you can resist in this world.
04:17And the main idea, do you need people to resist this evil?
04:24Because resistance is something that within the occupied areas of Ukraine is difficult,
04:30because people are putting themselves very much at risk.
04:33What you're doing through art is a different kind of resistance, isn't it?
04:36But nonetheless, one that perhaps could reach an even bigger audience.
04:40Of course, it's a big experience for us,
04:44because normally people don't want to come to the show
04:48and listen about horrible situation in different parts of Ukraine,
04:54because they can hear it in the news channels,
04:57in different kind of apps and news apps,
05:02and they can scroll it.
05:05But when they are in black box, they cannot hide their hearts.
05:11And that's why how we can speak with people through our hearts.
05:16So what you're doing through your stage performances,
05:18through the music, through everything you've...
05:20I mean, we've seen the images of how you perform
05:22and how the whole act looks.
05:24It's a question of really telling the story of Ukraine in that sense,
05:27the story of what's happening now.
05:28Yes. Yes.
05:30And we always was political, very political bands, of course, for sure,
05:36because we have these questions since long time.
05:39And it's one of the most important questions
05:46which we always not tell people how to do,
05:51but ask people what you think about that.
05:55It's a question about human.
05:58Who we are, what we are doing with ourselves,
06:01with our neighbours, with refugees, with enemies, I don't know.
06:06And this is the first question, actually.
06:09Why we are making so much evil in this world.
06:14Ruslana, we need to leave it there.
06:15I could talk to you all night because you're fascinating
06:17and what you're doing is extremely important.
06:20But sadly, time is against us.
06:22Ruslana Khazipova, Ukrainian artist, actress, musician,
06:26multi-talented, key member of the avant-garde in Ukraine.
06:29Thank you for joining us.
06:31Thank you for your invitation.
06:33It's very important.
06:34Thank you, France, for your support.
06:37It's very important for all Ukrainians in Ukraine and here in France.
06:43And ensemble Nudevuganie.
06:46Ruslana, thank you for being with us.
06:48It's a pleasure to meet you.
06:49Thank you very much.
06:50Slava Rukani.
06:51Heru im Slava.
06:54Thanks.
06:54Thanks.
06:54And I'll see you later.
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