Ukrainian pop star dies in car accident

The accident happened around 8:20 a.m. near
the village of Lozovativka in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. According to the traffic police,
Kuzmenko’s Toyota Sequoia collided with a milk tanker. The singer died on the
spot from severe injuries.

See the video from the spot of the accident here.

The police are working to find out the circumstances of the accident. Kuzma leaves a wife and 17-year old-daughter Mariya-Barbara.

Kuzma was born on Aug. 17, 1968 in a small
town of Sambir in Lviv Oblast. Music seemed to have been his only passion and
hobby. At the age of 15 Kuzma set up his first punk band Lantsiuhova Reaktsiya (Chain
Reaction). 

“We were not punks, we just played the fool,” the singer recalled in an interview. 

The
group was popular in school discos and musician considered it to be the
prototype of Skryabin – the first Ukrainian language band that worked in the
genre of alternative electronics. Founded in 1989 in Novoyavorivsk, Lviv
Oblast, during 26 years of its existence the group released 17 music albums and
experimented in different musical genres from darkwave, synthpop, and punk to
pop-rock music.

“Mam” (Mother) is one of the most popular Skryabin’s songs.

Kuzma performs his song “Mom” during the YUNA song contest award ceremony on March 15, 2013 in Kyiv.

Kuzma was no stranger to politics too.
In 1998, Skryabin gave pop concerts all over Ukraine in support of the Green
Party of Ukraine that ran for parliament that year. Four years later Kuzmenko openly supported political bloc “Winter Generation Team” that took
part in the parliamentary elections in 2002. The “Winter Generation Team”
supported then President Leonid Kuchma who was suspected to be connected to the murderers
of Ukrainian independent journalist Georgiy Gongadze in 2000.

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In 2004, Kuzma actively campaigned in
support of presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych. Later Kuzma explained that
he supported Yanukovych because he was threatened.

In January of 2014 the band released a song “Revolutsiya u
Vohni” (“Revolution in Fire”) which was dedicated to the EuroMaidan Revolution. 

“Where
to look for truth when a brother kills his brother? I want to live here, I
don’t want to shoot. Where to look for truth? Whom to ask for help?“ the lyrics
of the song read.

See the latest video presented on Feb.1 for the song “Delfiny” (Dolfins) with Kuzma

Skryabin released the latest music video for the song “Delfiny” (Dolfins) on Feb.1.

Kyiv
Post staff writer Nataliya Trach can be reached at [email protected]