TVER, July 05, /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s DDT rock band will donate half a million roubles (17,000 dollars) to support refugees from Ukraine’s restive south-eastern regions, the group’s leader Yuri Shevchuk told the media on Friday after the band performed at the music festival Nashetsviye (Invasion).

“We have raised half a million roubles and we shall donate the money to refugees from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic. The people are suffering terribly there. I have very many friends in Lugansk, Donetsk, Odessa and Kiev. The situation in relations between Russia and Ukraine is serious. I feel as if I were torn apart.”

Shevchuk recalled that he and his fellow musicians had always campaigned for peace.

“In Belgrade we were standing on the bridge and signing ‘don’t shoot’ while warplanes above were carrying bombs. We shall always sing for peace. I believe that it is always possible to come to terms, to find a common language. One should keep an open heart. Love is sometimes more important. It understands the situation far better.”

The DDT band was the headliner of the first day of the Nashestviye rock festival, being held on July 4-6 in Zavidovo, the Konakovo district of the Tver Region, northwest of Moscow.