As Ukraine tries to repel an invasion from Russia , the country’s defiant national anthem is being sung around the world in protest of the Kremlin-lead …
As Ukraine tries to repel an invasion from Russia, the country’s defiant national anthem is being sung around the world in protest of the Kremlin-lead aggression. The anthem originates from a 19th century Ukrainian poem titled “Ukraine Is Not Dead Yet,” which was set to music, according to the National Anthems Info website. But singing and performance of the song was banned when Ukraine became part of the Soviet Union in 1922. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the song regained anthemic status and in 2003, the country’s parliamentary body, which had adopted the music as an anthem in 1992, approved lyrics. Those were changed slightly in the first stanza to say, “Ukraine’s freedom has not yet perished, nor has her glory,” instead of “Ukraine hasn’t yet died, nor has her glory or freedom,” NationalAnthems.info says. (Still, some online sites continue to use the “has not yet died,” phrasing.) As Russia’s invasion began, performances of the song became prevalent across the globe. A video of a group of women and children singing the anthem while sheltering Friday in the central Ukraine city of Cherkasy spread on social media and was covered internationally on media sites including the Daily Mail of London.
