Kyiv now. The legendary Bono from the U2 band with Taras Topolia ("Antytila") performs at the Khreschatyk metro station.#StandWithUkraine️ pic.twitter.com/suzkCVvgKt

— Stratcom Centre UA (@StratcomCentre) May 8, 2022

BONO AND THE Edge travelled to Kyiv to perform in an underground metro station which is being used as a bomb shelter. 

In a tweet, the U2 band members said they were invited to perform by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a “show of solidarity” with the Ukrainian people.

“So that’s what we’ve come to do,” they added.

President @ZelenskyyUa invited us to perform in Kyiv as a show of solidarity with the Ukrainian people and so that’s what we’ve come to do. -- Bono and The Edge #StandWithUkraine

— U2 (@U2) May 8, 2022

Footage posted on social media shows the pair performing some of the band’s most famous songs With Or Without You and Sunday Bloody Sunday in Kryschatek metro station. 

Other videos showed them singing a cover of Ben E King’s Stand by Me with Ukrainian soldiers, singing the words “stand by Ukraine” instead.

Addressing the small crowd, Bono said: “The people in Ukraine are not just fighting for your own freedom, you are fighting for all of us who love freedom.”

“We’d like you to know that, really, there’s nowhere in the whole world that we’d rather be today than the great city of Kyiv,” he told the crowd. 

Bono (U2) and “Antytela” band in Kyiv metro 🇺🇦 #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/C89h2gehZD

— Kristina Berdynskykh (@berdynskykh_k) May 8, 2022

The singer also referenced the past conflicts in Ireland and the troubles it had with the UK.

“We pray that you will enjoy some of that peace soon,” Bono added.

The surprise appearance by Bono – a long time humanitarian who frequently lends his voice to a variety of causes including the fight against poverty and AIDS – came as air raid sirens echoed in the Ukrainian capital and fighting raged in the country’s east.

“It’s some good emotions, that’s all,” said a member of the Ukrainian territorial forces in the audience.

“It’s a strange feeling, like being a child going to first grade,” said 36-year-old university lecturer, Olesia Bezsmertna, ahead of the show.

With reporting from © AFP 2022