Wednesday 8pm: It’s as if there is no war – Lviv is celebrating itself.

Crowds throng the half-mile long piazza in front of the city’s opera house under the watchful eye of national poet Taras Shevchenko, looking down benignly from his plinth, and probably delighted by the spectacle.

Children scamper through the ornamental fountain; old men play backgammon with an intensity you can almost smell; babushki gossip, flashing their immaculate dentistry; Roma children as young as four try to sell you flowers.

A couple snog on one bench – unusual to see that in Ukraine – a sozzled alcoholic straddles the next one. He looks like he’s making love to it.

A girl sporting a T-shirt with the slogan Killer Tits (not in Cyrillic) scoffs candy floss with her boyfriend; teenage schoolgirls watch the musicians raptly, clinging together and grooming each other’s long tresses.

And then there’s what can only be described as the best street musicians in the world providing defiance/joy/inspiration.

This was so good it reduced me to tears. Picture quality desperate but give it a go.

Drummer, violinist and five-string upright bassist. They are extraordinary – perhaps on the verge of knowing they are good but not entirely sure how talented they are.

In daylight they look like this:

Top level amplification which needed a trolley to transport to the centre certainly makes a difference.

The trio’s name appears to be Sho_strings – click on their name to be taken to their Instagram.

Curfew – kommandantse – kicks in at 12 midnight and there are armed police out and about to ensure people go home. Most bars and restaurants are shut by 11pm.

This guy is tremendous:

Lviv’s a startlingly happy city, given recent history.

No overt references to Ukraine’s plight. Not a single glum face among thousands.

But the subtext is quite clear, epitomised by musicians of the highest calibre, and the sheer joy of people staring death in the face nightly: this is what civilisation looks like, and Ukraine is fighting for humanity.