Death Pill: The Ukrainian female punk trio separated by Russia’s war – ‘I don’t choose to live in a horror film’
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.
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.”
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’
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
Entertainment
BBC director general’s resignation ‘regrettable’ but he was ‘right to do so’ – culture committee chair
The resignation of the BBC’s director general was “regrettable” but he was “right to do so”, the chair of parliament’s culture committee has told Sky News.
Dame Caroline Dinenage said she was not expecting the resignations of Tim Davie and the chief executive of BBC News Deborah Turness, which they announced on Sunday evening.
She told Mornings with Ridge and Frost: “I think it’s really regrettable that Tim Davie had to step down – huge commitment to the BBC and public service broadcasting.
“But I think he was right to do so. I think restoring trust in the corporation has got to come first.”
BBC latest: Outgoing BBC News boss rejects ‘institutional bias’
Dame Caroline, who will chair a culture, media and sport committee meeting on Tuesday where the issue will be discussed, said the BBC was “very slow to react” to a leaked report by Michael Prescott, an independent adviser to the BBC’s editorial guidelines and standards board.
The dossier, sent to the BBC board and leaked to The Daily Telegraph, accused a Panorama special on Donald Trump, released a week before the 2024 US election, of being “neither balanced nor impartial – it seemed to be taking a distinctly anti-Trump stance”.
Tim Davie resigned on Sunday evening. Pic: PA
He also said the programme had spliced two clips from separate parts of Mr Trump’s speech to his supporters on 6 January 2021, the day of the Capitol Hill riots, to give the “impression that Trump had incited protesters to storm Capital Hill”.
Mr Prescott also raised bias concerns about the BBC’s coverage of trans issues and the war in Gaza.
Dame Caroline accused the BBC of failing to take his report seriously “until it was too late”.
Ms Turness arrived at the BBC’s central London headquarters on Monday morning, where she admitted “mistakes are made” but said there is “no institutional bias”.
She defended the BBC’s journalists, saying “of course” they are not corrupt and they “strive for impartiality”.
Read more:
The BBC controversies faced by Tim Davie during his time in charge
Politics Hub – latest updates
Outgoing BBC News boss Deborah Turness spoke to media on Monday. Pic: PA
Dame Caroline said the situation “has to influence the BBC charter decisions”.
The BBC’s Royal Charter outlines the corporation’s mission, public purposes and governance, along with specific obligations and how it is funded.
It is up for renewal in 2027, with the government currently carrying out a review to determine the BBC’s future, including its funding model and mission.
Dame Caroline said the last review, 10 years before, put integrity as the BBC’s top missions.
She added: “I think the charter has to look at how the BBC retains its balance and its integrity, how it retains the trust of the British people and the licence fee payer, because, you know, that’s absolutely fundamental for the future of the BBC.
“But actually it reflects upon us as a nation, because the BBC is such a well known and such a well respected brand around the world.”
BBC chair Samir Shah is expected to apologise in a letter to Dame Caroline’s committee later today.
Michael Prescott’s leaked memo raising concerns over BBC impartiality has brought down two of its top bosses.
US President Donald Trump has swiftly weighed in to brand the corporation “corrupt” and “dishonest”.
With the BBC now in crisis, who is the man who started it all?
Michael Prescott
An ex-journalist, Michael Prescott was an independent adviser to the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines and Standards Board for three years before leaving in June.
Studying at Oxford, he worked for 17 years as a journalist, with a decade spent working at the Sunday Times, initially as chief political correspondent before rising to political editor.
No stranger to showbiz, he has previously advised high-net-worth individuals and Hollywood stars on sensitive disputes and had a regular spot on Michael Parkinson’s weekly Radio 2 show, Parkinson’s Sunday Supplement, giving the newspaper review.
BBC chairman expected to apologise to MPs – follow latest
Mr Prescott has also worked in a series of corporate advisory roles – as corporate affairs director for BT, where he helped launch BT Sport and was part of the telecoms company’s merger with EE.
Ahead of that, he was managing director of corporate communications and public affairs at global PR company Weber Shandwick, where he advised organisations including Virgin Media, Balfour Beatty, British Nuclear Fuels, MasterCard, IKEA, air traffic control body NATS and numerous universities.
He currently holds roles at Hanover Communications, an international communications and PR agency.
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Ridge and Frost analysis on what’s next for BBC
Mr Prescott is also a member of the government’s Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, offering independent advice to the Prime Minister, among others.
What did his memo say?
Mr Prescott has said he wrote a memo in “despair at inaction by the BBC Executive when issues come to light”.
He went on: “On no other occasion in my professional life have I witnessed what I did at the BBC with regard to how management dealt with (or failed to deal with) serious recurrent problems.”
Read more: Tim Davie and Deborah Turness’s resignation letters in full
His memo also raised concerns about other areas of BBC output – including coverage of trans issues, and the war in Gaza.
This memo was later leaked to The Telegraph, leading to the crisis at the top of the BBC, resulting in two resignations.
Who else is involved?
Tim Davie. Pic: PA
Tim Davie
Ex-BBC boss Tim Davie had earned himself the nickname Teflon Tim due to his staying power through numerous controversies. But now it seems he’s seen one controversy too far.
Previously vice-president for marketing and franchise for drinks giant PepsiCo Europe, he was made CBE in 2018 for services to international trade.
Joining the BBC in 2005, he rose to the top position of director-general in 15 years.
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Why ‘Teflon Tim’ resigned from BBC
Controversies he previously weathered include former Match Of The Day host Gary Lineker’s 2023 brief suspension, Gregg Wallace’s sacking and Bob Vylan’s 2025 Glastonbury set.
Earlier this year, the breaching of the BBC’s Broadcasting Code over documentary Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone dented the corporation’s reputation further, followed by the edit of Donald Trump’s 6 January 2021 speech in flagship show Panorama – which has offered the decisive blow.
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Watch: Outgoing BBC News CEO rejects claims of bias
Deborah Turness
A linguist, Deborah Turness studied in Surrey, followed by a postgraduate diploma in journalism in France, at the University of Bordeaux.
She became chief executive of BBC news and current affairs in September 2022, previously working as CEO of ITN.
Before that was president of NBC News International, the global arm of American news network NBC News.
Prior to joining NBC News, she was editor of ITV News, where she was their first female editor and the youngest ever editor of ITV News.
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What did the BBC do to anger Trump?
What has Donald Trump got to do with it?
Mr Davie’s and Ms Turness’s resignations come off the back of internal concerns over the edit of a Donald Trump speech in an episode of the BBC’s Panorama programme.
The concerns regard clips spliced together of the US president’s speech on January 6, 2021.
That was the day of the storming of the Capitol building in Washington by Trump supporters who believed the 2020 election had been stolen by Joe Biden.
The edit was part of the documentary Trump: A Second Chance?, which was broadcast by the BBC before last year’s US elections.
Responding to the resignations, Mr Trump posted a lengthy statement on Truth Social.
“The TOP people in the BBC, including TIM DAVIE, the BOSS, are all quitting/FIRED, because they were caught “doctoring” my very good (PERFECT!) speech of January 6th,” he wrote.
“Thank you to The Telegraph for exposing these Corrupt ‘Journalists.’ These are very dishonest people who tried to step on the scales of a Presidential Election. On top of everything else, they are from a Foreign Country, one that many consider our Number One Ally. What a terrible thing for Democracy!”
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