From bullets to songs: Ukraine’s top artists fight back in English

As Ukraine continues its fight for freedom, its story isn’t just making headlines — it’s finding its voice in the universal language of music.

With two-thirds of Ukrainians turning away from Russian music, the full-scale invasion has profoundly reshaped the country’s music scene. From artists trading concerts for combat to the rise of wartime genres celebrating heroes and Western-supplied gear, Ukraine’s music vividly reflects a nation’s historic transformation.

In this handpicked selection, Euromaidan Press collected some of the most powerful anthems of resilience — songs that transcend language, letting listeners feel Ukraine’s raw on-the-ground realities that words alone can’t convey.

Explore five powerful new English-language songs (plus a bonus track) about the Russian-Ukrainian war, featuring global icons like Within Temptation and top Ukrainian bands. Released in 2024 — the third year of the full-scale invasion — with one unforgettable 2023 gem, each track offers a unique perspective on the Ukrainian wartime experiences worth sharing.

Festival (The Hardkiss)

Walking through Kyiv’s grey-toned streets, Julia Sanina, frontwoman of the acclaimed Ukrainian rock band The Hardkiss, reflects on Ukraine’s struggle and the deep yearning for peace. “Can I wonder?” — she pauses in a moment of uncertainty, questioning whether it’s even allowed to envision joy amid the ongoing fight.

Living in a war-torn country often demands emotional fortitude and a constant drawing upon inner strength. Yet, this question and the song offer a brief escape from the unrelenting tension, allowing space to dream and envision what is most deeply yearned for.

The imagery of a “castle of sand” and a “Phoenix on fire” beautifully encapsulates Ukraine’s daily paradox: a mix of vulnerability and unwavering resilience, fragile yet indestructibly strong.

Capturing a desperate desire to transform trauma into joy, the track reflects the belief that immense sacrifice and resilience will eventually be rewarded with peace. The message of turning “bombshells into fireworks” and “bullets into raindrops” goes beyond wishing for peace, declaring the need for beauty even amid destruction.

Since skyrocketing to fame in 2011, The Hardkiss sang exclusively in English. But after the Revolution of Dignity in 2014, they broke new ground with their first Ukrainian song, Abyss. From then on, the band’s hits took on a stronger Ukrainian identity, though they still boast dozens of English tracks with millions of views.

A Fool’s Parade (Within Temptation feat. Alex Yarmak)

World-famous Dutch metal band Within Temptation teamed up with Ukrainian musician Alex Yarmak to shoot a gripping music video in Kyiv and its suburbs in the spring of 2024.

“It would have been wrong to film a video about Ukraine somewhere in my homeland, where it’s safe and carefree,” says the band’s frontwoman Sharon den Adel.

According to the band, A Fool’s Parade “highlights themes such as condemning lies, Russia’s pretense regarding the war, its crimes and intentions.”

Lines like “Burned down, ’cause no one’s buying your story” directly call out the Kremlin propaganda, echoed by the repeated “Your crusade is just a fool’s parade,” which tears away any illusion of nobility Russia’s aggression the band exposes as a hollow, pointless spectacle.

Featuring iconic landmarks across Kyiv and the war-torn village of Makariv — caught in Russia’s advance towards Ukraine’s capital in February 2022 — the music video became the most powerful, yet not the only, show of solidarity from the world-renowned band.

“I knew from the beginning that I had to come here, had to see everything with my own eyes and show Kyiv as it is now in our video,” den Adel said.

Within Temptation has pledged all royalties from A Fool’s Parade to Music Saves UA, an initiative aiding Ukrainian musicians and artists affected by the war. In 2023, the band also co-sponsored a fundraiser to purchase boats for the Ukrainian navy in Kherson Oblast, where the band had headlined a music festival back in 2007.

WABI-SABI (Jerry Heil & Julia Sanina)

Piercing and poignant, WABI-SABI tells the story of a woman who lost her leg in a Russian shelling, capturing the resilience of those rebuilding from the wreckage — an experience shared by thousands of Ukrainians facing Russian attacks on civilian targets.

This must-watch puts a spotlight on Yuliia Hryhoryeva, a 36-year-old from Chornobaivka in Kherson Oblast, home to a fiercely contested airbase that Russian troops sought to capture for further advancement into the region. While under occupation, Yuliia was caught in a Russian artillery shelling, losing her left leg above the knee.

After receiving treatment at the Superhumans Center in Lviv, a cutting-edge rehabilitation facility for war-injured individuals, Yuliia brought her powerful story to life in this moving music video, featuring one secret verse in Ukrainian:

WABI-SABI draws inspiration from the Japanese philosophy of accepting change.

“The video depicts a process of renewal through the symbolism of ‘kintsugi’ – the art of repairing broken pottery with gold, which is believed to make the piece more beautiful and valuable… Just as broken pottery, when mended with gold, takes on new forms, we, having experienced the trials of war, become stronger,” the song’s authors note.

#AllEyesOnKids (Jerry Heil)

Another track by Jerry Heil, this time her own, takes a powerful stand on the tragedy of Ukrainian children deported by Russia. This gripping video brings to life the story of 14-year-old Kira Obedinska from Mariupol, embodying the plight of Ukraine’s kidnapped children.

After losing her mother in early childhood, Kira was raised by her father — a former captain of Ukraine’s water polo team — who was killed in a Russian airstrike in the first weeks of the full-scale war.

During a failed attempt to escape Mariupol, the teenager was injured by a tripwire and kidnapped by Russian forces. Taken to Russia-occupied Donetsk by Russian troops, Kira was freed and brought back to Ukraine thanks to the relentless efforts of her grandparents – a prominent polo dynasty – who ventured into occupied territories to find their granddaughter.

Jerry Hail, whose other chart-topping hit earned Ukraine third place at the 2024 Eurovision, called #AllEyesOnKids a “dialogue between a mother, who promises that her light will burn and guide the child home, and a child, who walks through the darkness, guided by the thread of light that sounds like a mother’s lullaby.”

In September 2024, Jerry Heil threw her name in the hat, submitting this powerful track for the GRAMMY.

Voices Are Rising (Okean Elzy)

Spring 2024 ushers a milestone for Ukraine’s music scene, as Okean Elzy – arguably the country’s most iconic band, whose influence has soared since their 1994 debut – dropped Lighthouse, their first-ever album in English.

“I’m proud to announce that for the first time in their history, Okean Elzy is going to release music in English. We are very happy and focused. The voices of Ukraine are rising higher and higher!” the band’s all-time frontman, Sviatoslav Vakarchuk, shared in a video address.

Throughout its history, the band — just three years younger than Ukraine’s independence — has consistently led the charge in the music industry, from being the country’s first band to appear on MTV to scoring a platinum album on the very first day of sales.

Okean Elzy, a commercial powerhouse that drew a record-breaking 100,000 attendees to a single concert, has also been a voice — and tune — of the country’s democratic aspirations.

Their songs have etched themselves into the nation’s history as the unofficial anthems as the unofficial soundtracks of the 2004 Orange Revolution and the 2014 Euromaidan — two landmark events that forged Ukraine’s democratic path.

The band’s leader, Sviatoslav Vakarchuk, didn’t limit himself to artistic expression, taking his vision to politics and running for a parliamentary seat after both revolutions. In 2019, he founded the Holos party, a pro-European movement that won 20 seats in parliament that year, championing the voices of citizens yearning for change.

However, just a year later, Vakarchuk stepped down as party leader to focus on what he does best – conveying his values through music. Since then, he has continued organizing fundraisers to support the Ukrainian army and touring along the frontline to boost the soldiers’ morale.

“This is a special time for my country. Recently, Ukraine received an Oscar for Best Documentary Film, and we need to ensure that Ukraine’s voice continues to sound strong and inspiring,” Vakarchuk commented on the inspiration behind the Lighthouse.

Amid its several chart-winning hits, the album includes a powerful collaboration with American singer-songwriter John Rzeznik.

Another standout track, Might Have Been A Dream, echoes the same longing as Festival by The Hardkiss, reflecting the shared hope of Ukrainians amidst the war.

Read also:

• Million copies, zero Russian: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2’s Ukrainian victory

• Soldiers of Song: documentary on how Ukraine’s musicians battle Russian “cultural genocide” through music

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