‘Free world is with you’: Antony Blinken plays guitar in Kyiv bar
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Antony Blinken on Tuesday picked up a red guitar at a basement bar in Kyiv with a message for Ukraine.
The US Secretary of State joined band 19.99 on stage at Barman Dictat in the Ukrainian capital. They played Neil Young’s Rockin’ in the Free World, a rock anthem released in 1989 just before the fall of the Berlin Wall.
“Your soldiers, your citizens – particularly in the northeast, in Kharkiv – are suffering tremendously,” he said. “But they need to know, you need to know, the United States is with you, so much of the world is with you and they’re fighting not just for a free Ukraine, but for the free world. And the free world is with you, too.”
Mr Blinken watched most of the band’s set before the lead singer introduced him as a “great friend of Ukraine”. He then joined them on stage to play the song with the chorus “keep on rockin’ in the free world”.
The song was first performed during an era when the Soviet Union was reeling from protests. Ultimately, the USSR broke up and numerous nations, including Ukraine, gained independence.
Dmitry Temnyi, frontman of 19.99, said he was impressed by Mr Blinken’s guitar skills.
“He played well,” he said.
The band was followed by a group of Ukrainian veterans who played wearing military fatigues.
Mr Blinken is the first senior US official to travel to Ukraine after Congress last month passed a $61 billion military aid package following a delay of several months during which Russia gained advantage on the battlefield.
Mr Blinken arrived in Kyiv by train early on Tuesday morning on the previously undisclosed visit, which comes days after Russia launched a ground incursion into the north of the region of Kharkiv, opening a new front and stretching Ukraine’s soldiers.
