The song is performed by guitarist David Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason, with bass player Guy Pratt and Nitin Sawhney on keyboard, according to the statement.
Gilmour, who has a Ukrainian daughter-in-law and grandchildren, said in the statement that he felt moved by Khlyvnyuk’s performance “in a square in Kyiv with this beautiful gold-domed church and … in the silence of a city with no traffic or background noise because of the war.”
“It was a powerful moment that made me want to put it to music,” he said.
Pink Floyd said the Ukrainian singer, who left his band to join the army, is in the hospital after being hit by shrapnel.
“We, like so many, have been feeling the fury and the frustration of this vile act of an independent, peaceful democratic country being invaded and having its people murdered by one of the world’s major powers,” Gimour said.
“We want to express our support for Ukraine and in that way, show that most of the world thinks that it is totally wrong for a superpower to invade the independent democratic country that Ukraine has become.”
The artwork for the single features a painting of a sunflower, Ukraine’s national flower, a “direct reference” to the elderly woman who was seen giving sunflower seeds to Russian soldiers, the band said.
