KIEV, June 16, 2007 (AFP) - Top singer Elton John gave a free charitable concert on Kiev's Independence Square on Saturday in a bid to draw attention to the AIDS problem in Ukraine.
"I am here to support you all against AIDS," the singer told his 200,000-strong audience, which included President Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine's former leader Leonid Kuchma, Russian envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin and top government officials.
Volunteers handed out condoms and leaflets detailing contacts for HIV testing and counselling centers before the concert, which was broadcast live on Ukrainian television.
Elton John set up his AIDS Foundation in 1992, as the British singer and composer was "horrified and angered at the magnitude of HIV/AIDS, and at how little was being done to help those affected by the virus", his website said.
The foundation funded 23 AIDS- and HIV-related projects in Ukraine over the past six years with more than 2.6 million dollars (1.9 million euros).
"This concert will enable us to fund future projects for around the same amount," Elton John was quoted by the website as saying.
The concert would also honour the singer's friends Olena Franchuk, Kuchma's daughter, and her husband Viktor Pinchuk, who pledged a 2.5-million-dollar grant to the foundation.
Also, Franchuk's ANTIAIDS Foundation earlier this year joined forces with Elton John's fund to launch a five-year project due to help HIV-positive children and their families.
Pinchuk, a tycoon who owns a number of large, mostly metallurgical enterprises, is also owner of a contemporary art center, where photos from Elton John's private collection went on display Friday.
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