Music resonates in the courtyard of a building in Kiev, lined with multicolored towers, soon relayed by the barking of the chihuahuas of a resident dressed in small raincoats for yellow and blue dogs, the national colors.

After 30 years without playing, the retired conductor from the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, where fighting is now concentrated, took over the trombone at the beginning of the conflict against Russia in February 2022.

A small group of regulars formed around Valentin and his wife Valentina.

"Every day, regardless of the weather, we meet at 9 a.m. sharp... in this way, we send a signal to the universe about our deep desire to defeat (the Russians)," says Natalia Chaika, a faithful spectator.

Another resident, Svitlana Novikova, recalls that "we got to know each other and decided to sing the Ukrainian anthem every morning under Valentin's direction. He said: we will sing until we win."

A "duty"

Some nearby residents complained about the forced daily awakening, but Dudkin says he ultimately convinced them.

The youngest member of the congregation is two-year-old Andriï, a child who wakes up his grandmother every day, anxious not to miss "Dou-dou": the onomatopoeia he uses to designate the sound of the trombone.

Back home, the couple looks at old photos of Valentin's career in his Donetsk region. "We were beautiful back then, weren't we?" he said to his wife.

In their hometown of Donetsk, fighting began in 2014 between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russian separatists led by Moscow who now control the city. The clashes had never really stopped since then.

The war launched by President Vladimir Putin in February 2022, however, has drastically increased the intensity of fighting in this industrial region. Cities, like Bakhmut, have been largely destroyed by the fighting.

An apartment building destroyed in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, January 30, 2023 © YASUYOSHI CHIBA / AFP/Archives

So the couple decided to contribute to the war effort in their own way, vowing to continue playing until Ukraine won. "We feel obliged to do it, it is a duty to ourselves," Dudkin said.

© 2023 AFP