for others, after two months on the front line, it s time for a short rest. these troops are from the 81st brigade. translation: this is a good | opportunity for the boys to rest and to return to the fight with new energy, to recover physically, morally and psychologically. meanwhile, in venice, the ukrainian symphony orchestra has been performing at a concert for peace. the repertoire featured a mix of music by italian and ukrainian composers. international harmony, in stark contrast to life in ukraine. tim muffett, bbc news. the ukrainian military says it s continuing to prevent russian forces from advancing in parts of the donbas region. the eastern town of lysychansk is encircled on three sides by russian troops. most of the city s residents have left, with the last remaining
l lviv, finally arriving in venice a few days before the launch. every man in ukraine will go to battlefield. but we have many roles in this war. i got the letter from ministry of cultural to present ukraine. for me, it s not easy to be here. but i will come back in three weeks, to ukraine. reporter: in the land, they found a company to rebuild part of the installation that had been left behind with the original design team of kyiv. and we finally reached the destination in venice. it s good to be together. exactly. no one believes it s a perfect science. pablo mar kov is one of the
the attention we re getting now is painful. we understand that the painful is paid by blood and victims in our country. russia is saying, ukraine is not a country. it has no culture. it doesn t exist. culture is a national security question. culture is how we live together, how all these different individuals can find rules that act as a society. i don t feel myself as an artist. i feel myself as a citizen who has his duty to represent his country and that s it. all of the curators, we have the same idea. it s an optimistic ssymbol. at the end, in venice, it will be important to show that ukraine is capable of everything, not just hiding in the shelter, but real thing, building a future. i could stop the water right
most important artists. he belongs to the first ukrainian generation of artists. this artwork was made in the local context of ckharkiv in th 90s. the infrastructure started to deteriorate. it exhausted itself on many, many levels. it was obvious to pablo. there s no life. i is going down, down, down. and this washes off the filth. the concept had over a dozen works of art. none with flowing water. i asked if he wanted to produce it finally in venice, it was the beginning of a completely new story. for us, for the people, for the artist, it was important to produce it without any changes, without any damage, without adjustments. to show the artwork is there. no matter what.
the venice biennale. well, when it s getting close to you, definitely don t think about your projects in venice. it was quite a serious decision. at that time, i realized that it would be important, really, for the ukraine to be represented on the cultural scene. even problems with the politics. can have problems with the economy. deep and huge problems. still, you can survive. if you don t have culture, there is no nation. there s no country. reporter: as ukraine was thrown into crisis, the team behind the art pavilion had to prioritize personal safety and their mission. eventually, they would plan unites to venice, mostly driving with their families, belongings and parts of the artwork. the first part of the war, my world a little bit shifted. i didn t have anybody to take