A POPULAR Gwent music venue is hosting a weekend of live music in aid of the people of Ukraine after Russia invaded the country last week.

The Dragonffli in Pontypool will be hosting live music later this month, with donations to go towards helping Ukrainians with aid.

Nick Byrne, owner of the Dragonffli, said: “I can’t go out and fight for anyone, and people are suffering again, so I want to try and get as much awareness as possible and would love to line the streets with a protest too.

“I can’t really do anything else so decided to put this on.”

He continued: “It’s disgusting, we are in the 21st century and are we going to see a repeat of 100 years ago? We had the Spanish Flu and First World War. Are we going to see World War Three?”

Mr Byrne will be hosting the event called Against War (Benefit gig for Ukraine) on Friday, March 25 and Saturday, March 26. The full line-up is still to be confirmed but there has been a lot of interest.

“We have had a lot of interest from bands of all genres and cover acts," he said. "We decided to open the doors and we’ll make some noise.”

MORE NEWS:

Some of the acts who will be performing include The Unknown, Epileptic Lizard, JanDed, Mercy of the Current, Clockwork Aeroplane, Horizons, Age of Conspiracy, Swan Hill, Ivor Beynon, Bad Squirrel, Katie Lou, Bob Rogers, Gaynor and Johnny and Joe Kelly.

Anyone who wishes to attend is being urged to turn up. “We are going to be asking for donations to raise money to help with anything from emergency aid to refugees.”

To find out more about the benefit gig, including line-up updates, visit https://tinyurl.com/2p82s9pc