A 7-year-old girl who sang “Let It Go” from the Disney movie “Frozen” inside a bomb shelter in Kyiv is now singing for a different kind of audience — thousands gathered in Poland to raise money to support Ukrainians like her who are fleeing the war.
Wearing a white folk dress embroidered with red, white and blue flowers, Amelia took center stage and sang Ukraine’s anthem, “Ще не вмерла України,” meaning “Ukraine has not yet perished.”
Weeks earlier, in the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, she sang in the same clear, high-pitched voice, “Не боюсь ничего уже” — Russian for “I’m not afraid of anything anymore” — as explosions could be heard overhead.
The video was viewed by millions of people, even reaching the cast of “Frozen.”
“We see you,” American actress and singer Idina Menzel, who was the voice of the character Elsa in the movie, tweeted on March 7. “We really, really see you.” She shared a clip of the girl and two heart emoji — one blue and one yellow, the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
In Poland, Amelia later came back onstage to sing with Ukrainian performer Tina Karol, against a backdrop of sunflowers, Ukraine’s national flower.
#StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/8vI0EiI6GU
— Tina Karol (@Tina_Karol) March 21, 2022
According to ITV, the concert at the Atlas Arena in Lodz, “Together for Ukraine,” was organized to raise money for Polish Humanitarian Action, a nonprofit that has provided services to Ukrainian refugees at the Polish border in recent weeks.
The event raised over $380,000 from viewers, according to the Associated Press. Ukrainian outlet TCH reported that tickets for the arena’s 10,000 seats sold out.
More than 3.5 million Ukrainians have become refugees since Russia’s invasion of their country, according to new figures released Tuesday.
More than 2 million of them have fled to Poland — in some cases, overwhelming cities and institutions not designed to absorb them.
Refugee arrivals from Ukraine since Feb. 24
Belarus
Russia
3K
Poland
185K
2.1M
UKRAINE
Slovakia
246K
3.3M+ refugees
Hungary
306K
Romania
Moldova
527K
363K
CRIMEA
Black Sea
As of 1:00 p.m. Eastern March 20
Source: United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR)
Note: Country totals may include people crossing the border
between countries, so their sum is greater than the total
number of refugees fleeing Ukraine.
Refugee arrivals from Ukraine since Feb. 24
Belarus
Poland
Russia
3K
2.1M
185K
UKRAINE
Slovakia
3.3M+ refugees
246K
Hungary
306K
Romania
527K
Moldova
363K
CRIMEA
Black Sea
As of 1:00 p.m. Eastern March 20
Source: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Note: Country totals may include people crossing the border between countries, so their sum is greater than the total
number of refugees fleeing Ukraine.
One of those refugees is Amelia, who told the BBC last week that she was in Poland with her grandmother. Her father stayed in Ukraine, where, under martial law, men of fighting age cannot leave the country. Her mother, Lilia, later joined them, telling Britain’s Press Association news agency that she was “proud” of her daughter’s performance in Lodz.
“Everyone was worried that she would be very worried, but she did great,” she said after the concert. “When Amelia went to the stage, you could hear her say into the microphone ‘nightmare, nightmare’ but she reconciled [those] feelings and sang.”
“Her happy grandmother Vera was watching in the hall,” she also told the PA news agency. “Is there a grandmother out there who would not be proud of her granddaughter in that moment?”
Jennifer Hassan contributed to this report.