Paul McCartney waves Ukraine flag during first gig of 2022 tour

Musician waved the flag during the encore of his show

Paul McCartney waved the Ukrainian flag as he kicked off his 2022 world tour in Spokane, Washingston, last night.

On Thursday 28 April, the Beatles star and solo artist performed a two-and-a-half hour set to fans attending the US concert, including many of the British band’s greatest hits.

The North American leg of his Got Back tour will see McCartney visit cities including Seattle, Oakland, Los Angeles, Hollywood, Boston and Baltimore. He is also headlining Glastonbury Festival in the UK on 25 June.

The Independent’s journalist Andrew Buncombe, who was in attendance at the Spokane show, reported seeing the 79-year-old bring the flag out during an encore.

McCartney is one of a number of artists to have expressed their support for Ukraine, amid Russia’s ongoing attacks against the country.

Acts including Green Day, Imagine Dragons, Bring Me the Horizon, Louis Tomlinson, Franz Ferdinand and Nick Cave cancelled their scheduled performances in Russia in protest at Vladimir Putin’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Posting to Instagram in March, Muse frontman Matt Bellamy praised Russians “willing to stand up to their corrupt government”, as well as the people of Ukraine “fighting for their right to live free and in peace”.

Paul McCartney during his concert in Spokane, Washington (Nisha Saxena)

On Thursday, the European Union’s foreign affairs representative, Josep Borrell Fontelles, said he was “shocked and appalled” at the proximity of Russian rocket strikes on Kyiv during UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres’s visit.

“Shocked and appalled about the Russian missile strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. Russia demonstrates again its blatant disregard for intl law by bombarding a city while @UN Secretary General @antonioguterres is present, alongside Bulgarian PM @KirilPetkov,” he tweeted.

Russia struck targets all over Ukraine, including a high-rise residential building in which 10 people were injured, while the UN secretary general made his first visit to Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on 24 February.

Follow live updates on the Ukraine-Russia conflict here.

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