PINK Floyd has written its first new song in almost 30 years to support Ukrainians, announced the band yesterday.

Hey, Hey, Rise-Up! will be released today, and be used to raise funds for humanitarian causes linked to the war.

It samples Andriy Khlyvnyuk – from one of the biggest bands in Ukraine, BoomBox – singing in Sofiyskaya Square in Kyiv in a clip that went viral.

Khlyvnyukh abandoned a world tour to return to Ukraine and defend his country.

“We, like so many, have been feeling the fury and 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,” said Pink Floyd on its official Twitter account.

Band leader David Gilmour in a press release said he was moved by Khlyvnyuk’s video: “It was a powerful moment that made me want to put it to music.”

Gilmour was able to speak with Khlyvnyuk from his hospital bed in Kyiv, where the singer was recovering after being hit by shrapnel in a mortar attack, said the record company.

“I played him a little bit of the song down the phone line and he gave me his blessing. We both hope to do something together in person in the future.”

The image accompanying the song is of a sunflower, and was inspired by a viral video showing a Ukrainian woman insulting two armed Russian soldiers.

In it, she tells the soldiers: “Take these seeds and put them in your pockets. That way, sunflowers will grow when you all rest here.”

It is the first original music from the band since 1994’s The Division Bell.

Gilmour tweeted his opposition to the war soon after Russia’s invasion, saying: “Putin must go.”

Pink Floyd has also pulled its music from Russian and Belarusian streaming sites in protest at the war. – AFP, April 8, 2022.