On a Kyiv square where recent popular uprisings have scuppered Moscow’s ambitions in Ukraine, an orchestra assembled before a small crowd on Wednesday to play the national anthem as Russian forces advanced on the city.

The Kyiv-Classic Symphony Orchestra also performed an excerpt from Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, on which the EU’s anthem is based — a nod to the Ukraine government’s desire to move closer to Europe and away from Russia’s orbit.

Dozens of people gathered to watch on the central Maidan Square, some waving Ukrainian flags. They applauded when the national anthem was finished and a woman cried out “To Ukraine!”

The lyrics of the anthem include the lines, “Ukraine has not yet perished.... our enemies will vanish like dew in the sun.”

Conductor Herman Makarenko told reporters that the concert was a call for peace.

“We would like to support our President, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who called, calls and will call to all governments of the world (to) stop the war in Ukraine.”

He said he managed to gather around 20 musicians for the performance, instead of 65-70 who normally make up the ensemble. Tens of thousands of people, worried about being cut off by enemy troops, have left the capital for the relative safety of western Ukraine.

Russian forces are advancing on Kyiv from several directions, although heavy fighting on the outskirts has slowed their progress. Air raid sirens wailed in Kyiv on Wednesday and soldiers searched cars at checkpoints on main thoroughfares, reminders that the city of 3.4 million is on a war footing.