Pink Floyd reunite for Ukraine protest song
BoomBox in 2015, at a London benefit gig for the Belarus Free Theatre - and he contacted Khlyvnyuk to seek permission.
"I spoke to him, actually, from his hospital bed, where he had a pretty minor injury from a mortar," the star said. "So he's right there on the front line.
"I played him a little bit of the song down the phone line and he gave me his blessing."
The song was released at midnight on Friday, with proceeds going to humanitarian relief.
The song carries special significance for Gilmour, as his daughter-in-law is the Ukrainian-born artist Janina Pedan.
He told the BBC she had inspired the artwork for the single, which contains the national flower of Ukraine, the sunflower.
"My daughter-in-law told us the story of a woman at the beginning of this conflict, giving sunflower seeds to Russian soldiers and saying that she hoped that sunflowers would sprout where they died."
Gilmour said he found the "powerlessness of the West" in the face of Russian aggression "infuriating" but said he supported the ongoing sanctions against the country.
"It's a shame that the people who suffer most are the ordinary people of Russia - but that is the way the sanctions work. It helps to create a discontent in that country which will hopefully, at some point, create some sort of change of regime."
Asked how he felt about the UK government's response to the crisis, he expressed frustration at the bureaucracy facing Ukrainian refugees who want to settle here.
"A lot of Europe is saying 'welcome' and our [government] is saying, 'you need to get onto a computer and fill in forms'.
"My view would be to open the doors and sort of paperwork out later. But government doesn't seem to be following that way of thinking."
Roger Waters does not feature on the new recording - he left the band in 1985 and has only occasionally performed with them since, such as at the Live 8 concert in 2005.
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