Valentyn Dudkin picks up his trombone — an instrument he hadn’t touched in 30 years — every morning to play Ukraine’s national anthem in the courtyard of his Kyiv apartment building.
After Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine a year ago, the 80-year-old retired orchestra director dusted off his musical instrument.
“I haven’t played the trombone for over 30 years,” Dudkin, a graduate of the Donetsk Conservatory in eastern Ukraine, tells AFP.
“The start of the full-scale war made me pick up the trombone again.”
Dudkin begins playing at 9:01 a.m., rain or shine, with his 83-year-old wife by his side, after observing a minute’s silence first.
His repertoire typically includes the national anthem and “Chervona Kalyna,” a hugely popular folk song that has become an unofficial resistance anthem.
Dudkin has quickly amassed a small fan base. Neighbors applaud his efforts to lift their spirits through outdoor concerts.
Despite the rain, a crowd gathered to listen to the musician on a recent morning.
Two women raise the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag, with the patriotic slogan “Glory to Ukraine!” “Honor to heroes!” is written on them.
While several chihuahuas dressed in yellow and blue coats huddle together in the rain, their neighbors joke and laugh.
The small audience then falls silent as Dudkin begins to play. The music echoes across the courtyard, which is surrounded by colorful tower blocks, and the small dogs yap.
‘Duty to ourselves’ –
Dudkin says the locals thank him for his music. “You cheer us up. You bring us back to life,” they tell him.
Local resident Natalya Chayka says the morning gatherings — “every day, regardless of the weather” — are to tell the universe of their “strong desire” to defeat the Russians.
“We got to know each other and decided to sing the Ukrainian anthem every morning under Valentyn’s leadership,” says neighbour Svitlana Novikova.
“He said: ‘We will sing until we win,” she added.
Dudkin’s youngest fan is two-year-old Andryusha, who wakes his grandmother up every day, anxious not to miss “Du du”.
Back at home, Dudkin and his wife, who hail from the eastern region of Donetsk, show AFP black and white photos of their past life.
“We were so beautiful back then… Wow!” Dudkin exclaims.
Fighting broke out in 2014 between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces in the eastern region of Donetsk, and it intensified after Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Cities in eastern Ukraine, such as Bakhmut, have been completely destroyed.
The outdoor concerts, according to the couple, are their contribution to the war effort.
“We feel a duty to do so, a duty to ourselves,” Dudkin says.