🌍The World Youth Festival 2026 has come to an end in Yekaterinburg From 11 to 17 September, the capital of the Urals brought together 10,000 young people from 191 countries, including scientists, entrepreneurs, athletes, cultural figures, bloggers and young community leaders. Around 2,000 volunteers also helped make the festival a welcoming and comfortable experience for its guests. 👉🏻 But the World Youth Festival is about much more than concerts and large-scale ceremonies. Its main purpose is to create a space where young people from different countries can meet, exchange experiences and discuss the future together. The programme also featured concerts, exhibitions, workshops, street performances, food venues, sports activities and opportunities to discover the Ural region. Interest in the festival was enormous: during the application campaign, the organisers received more than 113,000 applications from 191 countries. 🎶 One of the highlights of the closing ceremony was a performance by Lizwi — the stage name of Nokuphiwa Mbatha, a renowned South African singer, songwriter and producer from Durban. At the closing ceremony, she performed a song in Russian, giving a familiar Russian melody her own distinctive South African sound.