Pink Floyd has released the band's first new song in 28 years—and it's in aid of Ukraine

Today, legendary rock band Pink Floyd dropped its first new song in 28 years, Hey Hey Rise Up, in support of the people of Ukraine.

Pink Floyd joins folks around the world in showing their support for the Eastern European country while finding ways to assist in their fight. Hey Hey Rise Up is the band's first new music since 1994 and all proceeds from the track will support the UN’s Ukraine Humanitarian Fund.

Guitarist David Gilmour, drummer Nick Mason, bass player Guy Pratt and keyboard guru Nitin Sawhney perform the song, which also features vocals by Andriy Khlyvnyuk, a member of the Ukrainian band Boombox. Specifically, according to an official statement, Pink Floyd used audio of Andriy singing in central Kyiv, where he performed "a rounding Ukrainian protest song written during the first world war which has been taken up across the world over the past month in protest."

Since his performance, Andriy actually left the band to join his country’s army. He's now in the hospital after having been hit by shrapnel.

David himself has a Ukrainian daughter-in-law and grandchildren that are half Ukrainian, so the matter is clearly close to his heart. 

"It was a powerful moment that made me want to put it to music," the guitarist said in a statement about Andriy's emotional public gig. 

"We, like so many, have been feeling the fury and the frustration of this vile act of an independent, peaceful democratic country being invaded and having its people murdered by one of the world's major powers. We want to express our support for Ukraine and, in that way, show that most of the world thinks that it is totally wrong for a superpower to invade the independent democratic country that Ukraine has become."

David told the Guardian that he felt inspired to do something about the situation after seeing an Instagram video of Andriy in Kyiv's Sofiyskaya Square. After getting Pink Floyd back together for the tribute (minus Roger Waters, who quit the band in 1985), David reached out to Andriy directly. He was already in the hospital by then.

In addition to financially aiding the humanitarian fund, David hopes that Hey Hey Rise Up will help people outside of Ukraine understand what's currently going on in Europe and, he said to the Guardian, "do everything within their power to change that situation."

The band has also announced that it will remove all of its music from Russian and Belarusian digital music providers.