Blinken gets blowback over ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’ performance in Kyiv

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is facing backlash over his musical performance at a bar in Kyiv, with some arguing it was inappropriate given Ukraine’s ongoing war against Russia.

Blinken, during a surprise visit Tuesday, performed a cover of “Rockin’ in the Free World” by Neil Young with a band at the Barman Dictat, a well-known cocktail basement bar.

Upon getting up on stage with the Ukrainian band 19.99, the crowd erupted in cheers and Blinken said, “Your soldiers, your citizens — particularly in the northeast, in Kharkiv — are suffering tremendously.”

“But they need to know, you need to know, the United States is with you, so much of the world is with you, and they’re fighting not just for a free Ukraine, but for the free world. And the free world is with you, too,” he continued.

Some Ukrainians, however, criticized the top U.S. diplomat for what they thought was poor judgement given Russia’s recent advancements into northwestern Ukraine.

“One word is enough to describe US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s evening in Kyiv yesterday: inappropriate,” Svitlana Matviyenko, the head of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives NGO, said on Facebook.

“Kharkiv region is being wiped from the Earth, people are leaving their homes, Kharkiv is under strike from air bombs. Sumy region is preparing, and a US top official is singing songs in a Kyiv bar,” she added.

Oleh Symoroz, a Ukrainian veteran who lost both his legs in combat, called the performance “as inappropriate as possible.”

“Not the right time, not the right time at all. So many people die every day because we don’t have enough weapons and enough support from our allies,” he wrote on the social platform X, adding later, “Therefore, such concerts, I’m sorry, are simply tactless and inappropriate. I advise the Secretary of State to visit a military cemetery instead of a bar…”

Blinken, 62, arrived in Ukraine on Tuesday to meet with senior officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a show of support for the embattled nation. It marked the first official talks since Congress passed its massive foreign aid bill that included $60 billion for Ukraine’s artillery and air defense.

Ukrainian lawmaker and former diplomat Bogdan Yaremenko said that while the country is grateful for the U.S. support, the performance was poorly timed given how long it took for Congress to pass further aid for the nation.

“Yes, we are very grateful for the vital help of the United States. Without her, we would probably have lost this war. We’re getting the hang of this,” he wrote in a translated post on Facebook. “But we also can’t unsee all that makes the impression that the United States performs for the free world is not rock and roll, but some other music similar to Russian chanson.”

Jimmy Rushton, a Kyiv-based foreign policy and security analyst, said the performance was “astonishingly tone-deaf.”

“This isn’t supposed to be a [f—ing] vacation; Ukrainian soldiers are fighting and dying in large numbers right now along the frontline and Blinken is in a bar in Kyiv pretending to be a rockstar,” he wrote on X.

Blinken also faced domestic scrutiny over the performance from the Republican National Committee, which wrote, “This is not a serious administration.”

A U.S. official noted to The Hill the majority of Blinken’s trip was with government officials and Ukrainians and that cultural diplomacy is a part of the U.S.’s approach to foreign policy.  The official said the performance offered a chance to support Ukrainians through music

During his trip to Ukraine, Blinken also visited students at Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, where he reassured they are “not alone.”

“We meet at a critical moment,” he said, per The Associated Press. “The coming weeks and months will demand a great deal of Ukrainians, who have already sacrificed so much. I’ve come to Ukraine with a message: You are not alone.”

Updated 3:55 p.m. ET