U2 are a band known for their charitable deeds, fundraisers and general humanitarianism - but few would have suspected that they would turn up in war-torn Ukraine to play a gig in a bomb shelter.
Yet that's precisely what happened over the weekend, when Bono and The Edge played a surprise 40-minute set in the Khreshchatyk underground train station in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. The station has been serving as a bomb shelter since war broke out in the country.
The pair performed a short acoustic set to a small crowd, playing Ben E. King's 'Stand By Me' with Taras Topola, frontman of the popular Ukrainian band ANTYTILA. They also played their own hits 'With or Without You', 'Desire', and 'Sunday Bloody Sunday'.
Footage from the gig shows Bono drawing parallels with Ukraine and Ireland, and saying "The people in Ukraine are not just fighting for your own freedom, you are fighting for all of us who love freedom."
The band revealed via their official Twitter account that they had been invited to Ukraine by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
See footage below:
Bono also visited the site of a mass grave in the town of Bucha, as per the New York Times:
