Ukrainian rock band continue making music in the UK

A family of musicians who left Ukraine last month say they will continue to make music to support those still in the country.

Daria and Konstantin Naumenko have moved to Earls Barton in Northamptonshire with their seven-year-old daughter Vera.

They are part of rock band Sunrise and have been putting on concerts in their new home to raise money for Ukraine.

Mrs Naumenko said it "became too much" for the family to stay in the country.

Sunrise has released four albums and in 2018 performed a concert in Kyiv with the Orchestra of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The couple had started building a new recording studio and finished one of the rooms just before the war started a year ago.

They had moved to a village outside of Kyiv but said in December they decided to come to the UK.

Mrs Naumenko said: "For me it was very [a] hard decision because I didn't want to go from Ukraine for a long time but I understood it was dangerous.

"We have a daughter and we have a responsibility."

The couple, who are both singers in the band, have continued to play and perform music since arriving in the UK.

Mrs Naumenko, who also plays keyboard, said: "I think that music in general inspires and encourages people and we try to do this, and for ourselves we had to leave our country and we know that our country is in danger and our music supports us.

"Many of our songs are about Ukraine, they are about the struggle of Ukrainian people, [the songs] try to support people to give them hope.

"We hope the war will end soon because it is very hard to not be with your country and people there continue to die."

Their daughter has now followed in their footsteps and wrote a song while still in Ukraine during the war.

"As a family we play music [all] the time, Vera is a very musical girl and she wrote a song herself," Mrs Naumenko said.

She said the song was about Ukrainian people and Ukrainian soldiers, adding Vera "likes to sing it very much".

Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]