U2 have released a short documentary film to accompany “Yours Eternally”, off their recent EP U2 – Days of Ash, inspired by Ukrainian musician-turned-soldier Taras Topolia.
In advance of a new album in late 2026, the EP is a self-contained collection of five new songs and a poem – “American Obituary”, “The Tears Of Things”, “Song Of The Future”, “Wildpeace”, “One Life At A Time”, and “Yours Eternally”.
It serves as an immediate response to current events and is inspired by the many extraordinary and courageous people fighting on the frontlines of freedom. Four of the five tracks are about individuals whose lives were brutally cut short, and a soldier who’d rather be singing but is ready to die for the freedom of his country – Topolia himself.
In the spring of 2022, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Bono and The Edge traveled to Kyiv to busk in a metro station at the invitation of President Zelensky. A couple of days prior to that, Ed Sheeran connected Topolia with Bono.
Bono, Topolia and The Edge met for the first time on that subway platform. They’ve been friends ever since. He is the inspiration for “Yours Eternally”, written in the form of a letter from a soldier on active duty with a bold, mischievous spirit to match Ukraine’s.
The 4.5 minute film accompanying “Yours Eternally” was directed by Ukrainian cinematographer and filmmaker Ilya Mikhaylus and produced by Pyotr Verzilov. The film’s release today (Tuesday, February 24th) marks the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Shot in December 2025 while Mikhaylus and his crew were embedded alongside the 40,000-strong Khartiya Corps, the film captures the extraordinary daily lives of Alina and her fellow soldiers from Khartiya Corps fighting on the frontlines of the war in the Kharkiv region.
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The short is part of a full-scale documentary set to be released at the end of 2026.
“For four years, Ukraine has been resisting Russia’s full-scale invasion, and the soldiers of the Khartiya Corps are among the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians defending their homeland,” Mikhaylus said.
“In this short film, and in the upcoming full-length documentary, we attempt to show the beating human heart of those incredible men and women, the struggles and sacrifices they are making everyday for the most sacred thing on this planet – freedom.”
