Photos show Ukrainians turning bomb-site cleanups into techno raves as DJs play on top of ammunition boxes
Ukrainian volunteers are turning bomb-site cleanups into techno raves, with photos showing people posing with mortar shells and DJs playing on top of ammunition boxes.
Russia's invasion on February 24 put an abrupt halt on daily life in Ukraine, including its nightclub scene. But a Ukrainian group called Repair Together is combining dance parties with wartime clean-up efforts in an attempt to make life feel normal again.
Last week, the group organized a clean-up event in the village of Yahidne, 87 miles northeast of the capital Kyiv, the Associated Press reported.
Yahidne was heavily bombed by the Russians in March before it was liberated by the Ukrainian military a month later, the AP reported. Around 130 people were held hostage in a local school basement for over a month in the village, leaving at 12 people dead, The New York Times reported.
More than 200 volunteers traveled to the village on Sunday to help clean up remnants of a cultural center that was destroyed by a Russian missile strike, the AP reported.
Photos published by the AP and Reuters show young people dancing on the debris with shovels in their hands while DJs play music on turntables placed on top of ammunition boxes.
Another picture shows one smiling attendee posing in front of the DJ decks with a part of a mortar shell in his hand.
"Volunteering is my lifestyle now," said Tania Burianova, an organizer with the group told the AP. "I like electronic music and I used to party. But now it's wartime and we want to help, and we're doing it with music."
Burianova said the raves are designed to help young people regain a sense of normalcy while contributing to wartime efforts.
"We miss [parties] and we want to come back to normal life, but our normal life now is volunteering," Burianova added.
Repair Together has managed eight cleanups so far and plans to expand events to the nearby town of Lukashivka, where they will build 12 houses for people whose homes have been destroyed, volunteers told the AP. They have already helped repair 15 damaged homes in Yahidne, the AP reported.
Oleksandr Buchinskiy, a local DJ, told the news agency: "These are all young people that still have a passion for life, but they feel pain and are very sad and angry because of the war."
"But they feel a need to take part in this historical moment, and help people, and make Ukraine a better place with a smile on their faces."