Imagine Dragons invite 14-year-old from Mykolaiv Oblast on stage during performance in Warsaw

14-year-old Sasha from Novohryhorivka in Mykolaiv Oblast, who starred in an Imagine Dragons video, was invited on stage by the band during a performance in Warsaw.

Thousands of people cheered and applauded as he unfurled the Ukrainian flag, the government initiative UNITED24 has reported.

Sasha admitted that he was very nervous when he went on stage. But he felt calm holding the Ukrainian flag along with band members Dan and Ty.

"There are people fighting for freedom, people fighting for their homes, people fighting for their country, people fighting for their town, their village," lead singer Dan Reynolds said before inviting the young Ukrainian onto the stage. 

The singer invited the audience to support Sasha with a round of applause and played a song especially for the Ukrainian teenager.

Note: Sasha featured in the video for the song Crushed which Imagine Dragons filmed in Ukraine in 2022. The video was released on YouTube on 10 May. 

They shot the video in Sasha's home village of Novohryhorivka, which had been under occupation for five consecutive months. At the time of filming, the village was very close to the contact zone. 

The video shows the aftermath of Russian war crimes: a village wiped out, with houses and the school destroyed.

The young man survived many Russian attacks by hiding in the basement. Sasha's house was destroyed by Russian mortar attacks, and his family subsequently left the village.

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