Pro-war singers Shaman and Grigory Leps visited southwestern Russia’s Kursk region on Thursday to entertain wounded soldiers and send off children who were being evacuated from their homes as Ukraine’s incursion in the area continued into its fourth week.
Between air raid alerts, acting Kursk region Governor Alexei Smirnov shared videos on Telegram of Shaman and Leps performing acoustic versions of their hits on a makeshift outdoor stage for a young audience.
Shaman performed his popular song “Ya Russkiy” (I’m Russian), which has become an unofficial anthem among some pro-war Russians, altering the lyrics toward the end to “Ya Kurskyi” (I’m from Kursk) as a nod to the local audience.
According to the Telegram news channel Govorit Nemoskva, the children in attendance were being evacuated to the Artek youth camp in the annexed Crimean peninsula.
The Russian Defense Ministry also released footage of Shaman and Leps performing for soldiers at a local cultural center, where they gifted autographed guitars and delivered “vitamin kits.”
Since Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk region on Aug. 6, over 130,000 Russians have been displaced from border areas, with approximately 2,000 more reported missing — a scale of displacement not seen in the region since World War II. Around 20,000 residents of the Kursk region remain in Ukrainian-controlled areas, according to the authorities.
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