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From a music club sheltered underground in Ukraine’s capital, Mariana Navrotskaya cannot hear the air raid warnings sounding above her. It is her bandmate Anastasiia Khomenko who informs her after checking online that there is a nationwide warning in effect at the time of their Zoom call.

“It is very good you are in a shelter,” she tells her friend, concerned but not shocked by what is happening in her home country anymore. “It is my every day,” Mariana replies.

It’s 2pm in Kiev, 1pm for Anastasiia, now living in Barcelona, and 10.30pm for the third member of their trio, Nataliia Seryakova, who is currently in Adelaide, south Australia.

Across the time zones, thousands of miles apart, the three members of feminist punk trio Death Pill have reunited for their first UK news interview – which just happens to be, it turns out, also the first time all three have seen each other together, albeit on screen, since they were separated shortly after the start of Russia‘s war on Ukraine 10 months ago.

Ukrainian band Death Pill

While Nataliia, 25, was able to move temporarily to Australia for work, Mariana, 26, chose to stay in Kyiv. Anastasiia, 29, made the difficult decision to take her son Orest, who turned eight in November, to safety in Spain; leaving her husband Evgenij behind.

“When the war began, I didn’t want to leave Kyiv,” she tells Sky News. “But I know that I must because I have a child and I want him to be safe and have a better life.

“Every time when I think about children in the Ukraine, it’s very painful for me. They have air alerts, they’re [having to go] down in the shelters… it was a very difficult decision. I didn’t want to emigrate. I love my country very badly.”

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A hardcore punk trio, Death Pill in its current line-up began in 2021, when bass player Nataliia joined. Emerging from Ukraine’s diverse underground music scene, they recorded their self-titled debut album and were ready to take on the world.

“After all, rock is not only about brutal men with curly long hair, right?” states Mariana in their promo.

But then the war broke out. For the first month, Anastasiia and her family slept in their bathroom, the safest place. Now, she is separated from her husband and parents – her father is fighting for Ukraine – and she and her bandmates are spread across the world.

Despite the distance, they have managed to put the finishing touches to their album online since they have been apart.

Their releases so far have started creating buzz and they have been named among the 10 exciting new bands to watch out for in 2023 by Metal Hammer. Signed to London label New Heavy Sounds, the plan is to release it on 24 February 2023 – marking the first anniversary of the start of the war – and they are all hopeful that one day, hopefully soon, they will get to tour together.

While it was never meant to be this way, the aim now is to use their platform to keep raising awareness about what is happening in Ukraine.

“Right now we have a dream team, our golden trio,” says Anastasiia. “We’ve played in a lot of Ukrainian cities… now we have a lot of attention from Europe, America. And we appreciate that because we can spread the word about the war.

“We can share all this information from the people who are actually living this and going through it… we were waking up on 24 February from missile strikes. It’s not propaganda, it’s real life.”

‘A year ago, we had it all’

Ukrainian band Death Pill

In recent months, Russia launched attacks on power supplies, causing blackouts across Ukraine. It is the reason Mariana has placed herself in the music club, which has a generator, for this interview; she is not able to communicate from her home.

Despite everything, she is resilient. “It’s making me stronger and more powerful,” she says. “You can’t imagine this situation at all. At all.

“It’s a lot of hard work living now in Ukraine – in Kyiv, in any other city – because you need to find electricity, internet, water.

“One year ago, you have it all and you don’t think about it. And now… when you read the history of World War II, you think that’s very bad, but now is another time, it will never happen again… I can’t find the words to explain. It’s f***** up.

“But now, it’s very interesting to live here because you understand the importance of everything that you [thought] was…”

“Basic,” Anastasiia answers for her. They now appreciate the everyday things they took for granted.

Nataliia and Anastasiia tell their bandmate they think she is more positive now than before the war.

“I’m going through big changes, and that’s cool,” she replies. “You see how strong Ukrainians are?” Anastasiia says about her friend.

But they miss each other. Brought together by a mutual desire to make music with something to say, to stand out from the crowd, they are desperate to see each other in person once again.

I ask how they are feeling about not being able to play together at the moment. “You want to see our tears?” Mariana responds. “It’s a very sad question.”

“It’s s***,” says Nataliia. “You can’t plan. So I just know, like, half a year forward what I can do. But after that, I don’t know. It’s slow, but it’s as good as we can do. It is what it is.”

‘We smash the patriarchy, now we smash Russia’

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Zelenskyy’s Christmas message

One positive to emerge from the war is the underground music community coming together to support their country.

“Because we have a lot of people who are artists, musicians, great people of our nation [who] are now with weapons protecting their country, to protect all Europe,” says Anastasiia.

Nataliia says Russian artists with any sort of platform, those who are elsewhere in the world and able to see what is really happening – rather than the “propaganda” – should also be standing up for Ukraine.

“Even a lot of famous artists from Russia say nothing about it, and this is s***,” she says. “[People say] they were just born in Russia, but they have mouths to speak.”

She says she has lost contact with some of her own family members in Russia as they do not believe the truth about what is happening in Ukraine.

“When the war started… there were a lot of explosions not far from me,” she says. “I saw explosions in the window, it was like five kilometres from my house.”

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Russia has “taken everything” from us, says Anastasiia. “I miss being carefree because I don’t have it anymore. When I see [in Spain] a lot of people, they are so happy, carefree. I’m very glad for every one of them, and for you that you never, ever have what we have in our life.

“But in another way I feel very angry because we also had this in our life. We also were carefree and did silly things and were just hanging out together and [making] music in Ukraine. And now people in Ukraine need just to survive…

“For all people who are supporting Russian terrorists, I want them to see how it is. I want them to open their eyes, in a horrible way. It’s true and it’s our life. We don’t want it and we don’t deserve it.”

Having travelled back to Ukraine in the summer to see her husband, Anastasiia has plans to do so again next year. “I will see Mariana,” she says. “We will play together, maybe do some songs.”

“We smashed the patriarchy together and now we smash Russia together,” says Mariana.

“Right now for us, it’s our life,” says Anastasiia. “For me, it’s like I’m living in a movie. But I don’t choose to live in a horror film. I want a movie where we are rock stars.”

Death Pill release their self-titled debut album through London label New Heavy Sounds on 24 February 2023

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Financial markets were always going to respond to Trump tariffs but they’re also battling with another problem

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Financial markets were always going to respond to Trump tariffs but they're also battling with another problem

Global financial markets gave a clear vote of no-confidence in President Trump’s economic policy.

The damage it will do is obvious: costs for companies will rise, hitting their earnings.

The consequences will ripple throughout the global economy, with economists now raising their expectations for a recession, not only in the US, but across the world.

Tariffs latest: FTSE 100 suffers biggest daily drop since COVID

Financial investors had been gradually re-calibrating their expectations of Donald Trump over the past few months.

Hopes that his actions may not match his rhetoric were dashed on Wednesday as he imposed sweeping tariffs on the US’ trading partners, ratcheting up protectionism to a level not seen in more than a century.

Markets were always going to respond to that but they are also battling with another problem: the lack of certainty when it comes to Trump.

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He is a capricious figure and we can only guess his next move. Will he row back? How far is he willing to negotiate and offer concessions?

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These are massive unknowns, which are piled on to uncertainty about how countries will respond.

China has already retaliated and Europe has indicated it will go further.

That will compound the problems for the global economy and undoubtedly send shivers through the markets.

Much is yet to be determined, but if there’s one thing markets hate, it’s uncertainty.

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Court confirms sacking of South Korean president who declared martial law

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Court confirms sacking of South Korean president who declared martial law

South Korea’s constitutional court has confirmed the dismissal of President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached in December after declaring martial law.

His decision to send troops onto the streets led to the country’s worst political crisis in decades.

The court ruled to uphold the impeachment saying the conservative leader “violated his duty as commander-in-chief by mobilising troops” when he declared martial law.

The president was also said to have taken actions “beyond the powers provided in the constitution”.

Demonstrators who stayed overnight near the constitutional court wait for the start of a rally calling for the president to step down. Pic: AP
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Demonstrators stayed overnight near the constitutional court. Pic: AP

Supporters and opponents of the president gathered in their thousands in central Seoul as they awaited the ruling.

The 64-year-old shocked MPs, the public and international allies in early December when he declared martial law, meaning all existing laws regarding civilians were suspended in place of military law.

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The Constitutional Court is under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement of the impeachment trial. Pic: AP
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The court was under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement. Pic: AP

After suddenly declaring martial law, Mr Yoon sent hundreds of soldiers and police officers to the National Assembly.

He has argued that he sought to maintain order, but some senior military and police officers sent there have told hearings and investigators that Mr Yoon ordered them to drag out politicians to prevent an assembly vote on his decree.

His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on 14 December, accusing him of rebellion.

The unanimous verdict to uphold parliament’s impeachment and remove Mr Yoon from office required the support of at least six of the court’s eight justices.

South Korea must hold a national election within two months to find a new leader.

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, is the early favourite to become the country’s next president, according to surveys.

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Stock markets suffer sharp drops after Donald Trump announces sweeping tariffs

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Stock markets suffer sharp drops after Donald Trump announces sweeping tariffs

Stock markets around the world fell on Thursday after Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs – with some economists now fearing a recession.

The US president announced tariffs for almost every country – including 10% rates on imports from the UK – on Wednesday evening, sending financial markets reeling.

While the UK’s FTSE 100 closed down 1.55% and the continent’s STOXX Europe 600 index was down 2.67% as of 5.30pm, it was American traders who were hit the most.

Trump tariffs latest: US stock markets tumble

All three of the US’s major markets opened to sharp losses on Thursday morning.

A person works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Monday, March 31, 2025. Pic: AP
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The S&P 500 is set for its worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. File pic: AP

By 8.30pm UK time (3.30pm EST), The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 3.7%, the S&P 500 opened with a drop of 4.4%, and the Nasdaq composite was down 5.6%.

Compared to their values when Donald Trump was inaugurated, the three markets were down around 5.6%, 8.7% and 14.4%, respectively, according to LSEG.

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Worst one-day losses since COVID

As Wall Street trading ended at 9pm in the UK, two indexes had suffered their worst one-day losses since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The S&P 500 fell 4.85%, the Nasdaq dropped 6%, and the Dow Jones fell 4%.

It marks Nasdaq’s biggest daily percentage drop since March 2020 at the start of COVID, and the largest drop for the Dow Jones since June 2020.

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The latest numbers on tariffs

‘Trust in President Trump’

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNN earlier in the day that Mr Trump was “doubling down on his proven economic formula from his first term”.

“To anyone on Wall Street this morning, I would say trust in President Trump,” she told the broadcaster, adding: “This is indeed a national emergency… and it’s about time we have a president who actually does something about it.”

Later, the US president told reporters as he left the White House that “I think it’s going very well,” adding: “The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom.”

He later said on Air Force One that the UK is “happy” with its tariff – the lowest possible levy of 10% – and added he would be open to negotiations if other countries “offer something phenomenal”.

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How is the world reacting to Trump’s tariffs?

Economist warns of ‘spiral of doom’

The turbulence in the markets from Mr Trump’s tariffs “just left everybody in shock”, Garrett Melson, portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Managers Solutions in Boston, told Reuters.

He added that the economy could go into recession as a result, saying that “a lot of the pain, will probably most acutely be felt in the US and that certainly would weigh on broader global growth as well”.

Meanwhile, chief investment officer at St James’s Place Justin Onuekwusi said that international retaliation is likely, even as “it’s clear countries will think about how to retaliate in a politically astute way”.

He warned: “Significant retaliation could lead to a tariff ‘spiral of doom’ that could be the growth shock that drags us into recession.”

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Tariffs about something more than economics: power

It comes as the UK government published a long list of US products that could be subject to reciprocal tariffs – including golf clubs and golf balls.

Running to more than 400 pages, the list is part of a four-week-long consultation with British businesses and suggests whiskey, jeans, livestock, and chemical components.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Thursday that the US president had launched a “new era” for global trade and that the UK will respond with “cool and calm heads”.

It also comes as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a 25% tariff on all American-imported vehicles that are not compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal.

He added: “The 80-year period when the United States embraced the mantle of global economic leadership, when it forged alliances rooted in trust and mutual respect and championed the free and open exchange of goods and services, is over. This is a tragedy.”

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