The musician is used to performing under pressure, as when pro-EU demonstrations turned violent in 2014, the concert continued onstage to the sound of gunfire.
Yuri believes that Russia has a “gun to its head” once more, and the country’s troops are gathering on Ukraine’s border to prevent it from slipping out of Moscow’s orbit and into Nato.
“We had hoped to live like France or the United Kingdom, other free nations,” he stated ahead of his Valentine’s Day performance.
“But we’re still coming to work without knowing whether the concert will be peaceful or if there’ll be shooting after eight years.
The streets of Kyiv, despite the musician’s anxiety and all the dire warnings issued by Western politicians and intelligence agencies, have remained exceptionally tranquil.
Only the word “panic” is etched on a city wall as a sign of worry. There’s no indication of the Russian attack that others were so sure about, which was predicted to occur on Wednesday.
Ukrainians are wary of recent developments that might signal Russia is de-escalating the tension, just a little bit.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov first advised President Vladimir Putin that it made sense to continue communicating with the West and attempting to meet his security demands.
On Tuesday, Mr Putin restated the demands once again, adding that he does not want “war.”
The day following, the defense ministry stated that some troops were returning to their garrisons “as planned” and footage from tanks rolling across a road as a soldier with little flags held up traffic in the snow was published.
Ukraine’s foreign minister has dismissed the supposed evidence without hesitation.
“We in Ukraine have a norm: we don’t believe what we hear, but what we see,” Dmytro Kuleba tweeted. “It’s time to go back home again.”
“If the facts on the ground eventually back up these statements, we will believe in a true de-escalation.”
According to reports from Kyiv, several hours later, the defense ministry’s website had been hacked by unidentified attackers.
ATMs and bank branches of two large banks were also affected. It’s unclear what caused it, but Ukraine has previously been the target of major cyber-attacks that it has linked to Russia.