"Bilyk, Polyakovan – there are dozens of them". The famous Ukrainian musician named his colleagues who benefited from singing in Russian

Ukrainian musician, frontman of the band Mandry, Serhiy Fomenko, spoke emotionally about musicians who once sought creative happiness in Russia and wrote and performed songs in Russian. And then they "changed their colors" and sang again in Ukrainian.

"As soon as I try on a kokoshnik, I have to put on an embroidered shirt again," is how the performer characterized Iryna Bilyk in one of his public conversations a few years ago. In an interview with OBOZ.UA, the singer recalled that conversation and told us what he thinks of his colleagues who have been looking at the Russian music market.

"Bilyk, Polyakova - there are dozens of them," says Serhiy Fomenko. Everything is clear with her. We need to look not at how she started, releasing Ukrainian-language albums one after another, but how she continued. In this case, we are dealing with a purely showbiz person who at some point decided that it was more profitable to speak Russian. But I wouldn't want to say anything bad about her or people like her. Like, they are shoe changers. To guess who is real and who is not. Who am I to blame anyone? I can only blame myself for some things. What did you do personally? Was I steadfast, was I frank, did I do the best I could? Where was I? This is my area of responsibility. Everything else is the responsibility of others."

"There is a certain pool of people who have been making Ukrainian music, filming Ukrainian movies, and creating Ukrainian art all their lives. And this story goes back to the Sixties, who worked under the Soviet regime but were not like them in spirit," adds the musician. "Those who were the most determined, brave, and bright were killed. Alla Horska, Vasyl Stus, Volodymyr Ivasyuk, and others. Why were so many artists killed? Because culture shapes the nation. Culture is the same weapon as an assault rifle in the hands of a soldier."

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