NTU made its debut in the contest in 2003, when it finished in 14th place with the song "Hasta la vista" performed byOleksandr Ponomariov.
Ukraine won the contest at the second attempt in2004, with the song "Wild Dances" byRuslana, defeating second-placedSerbia and Montenegro by 17 points, 280 to 263. In2016, Ukraine became the firstEastern European country to win the contest twice, when "1944" byJamala won. The televote was won byRussia and the jury vote byAustralia; Ukraine was second in both, but won with an overall total of 534 points, with Australia second with 511 points and Russia third with 491 points. In2017, Ukraine was pre-qualified for the final as hosts, however it achieved its worst result to date – 24th place with 36 points.
NTU sat out the 2015 contest because of financial difficulties in relation to thewar in Donbas.[2] However, Ukraine broadcast the contest despite not taking part.[citation needed] NTU pledged to bring Ukraine back to the contest for 2016, which was finalized and announced on 16 September 2015.[3]
Vidbir, theUkrainian national selection for the 2019 contest, was won byMaruv with "Siren Song". However, UA:PBC required any potential representative in the contest to sign a contract which contained a clause to forbid them from performing inRussia.[citation needed] The winner Maruv, as well as runners-up Freedom Jazz andKazka, all refused to sign the contract, leading to Ukraine's withdrawal from the contest on 27 February.[4]
In2020,Go_A won the national selectionVidbir and was set to represent Ukraine with the song "Solovey", before the contest was cancelled due to theCOVID-19 pandemic. They were instead internally selected to represent the countrythe following year with the song "Shum", with which they finished in fifth place. After the contest, "Shum" entered theBillboard Global 200 at position 158, becoming the first ever Ukrainian-language song to chart there.[5] Ukraine won the contest for a third time in2022, with the song "Stefania" performed byKalush Orchestra. "Stefania" later went on to surpass the peak of "Shum" on theBillboard Global 200, charting at position 85.[6]
Since the introduction of the semi-final round in 2004, Ukraine is the only country to have qualified for the final of every edition it has competed in.[note 1] Ukraine has a total of 13 top-ten placements (among those are nine top-five placements). Ukraine's participation and success in the contest has been acknowledged as a factor in the country's growingsoft power and international image.[7] This view is shared by Ukrainian presidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy, who has supported the country's continued participation following theRussian invasion as a way to promote the Ukrainian national cause internationally.[8]
Internal selection for artist; national final with 5 songs; winning song of the first national final continued onto a second national final with 20 participants
Following its victory in2022, Ukraine was initially given the opportunity to host the2023 contest, however, the EBU later decided that the country would not be able to host due to security concerns caused by theRussian invasion of Ukraine, making Ukraine the first country sinceIsrael in1979 to win the contest but not host it the following year.[10] The 2022 runner-up, theUnited Kingdom, hosted the 2023 contest on Ukraine's behalf, and Ukraine was granted automatic qualification for the final.[11]
Oksana Skybinska, head of the Ukrainian delegation since 2018.
Each participating broadcaster in the Eurovision Song Contest assigns a head of delegation as the EBU's contact person and the leader of their delegation at the event. The delegation, whose size can greatly vary, includes a head of press, the performers, songwriters, composers, and backing vocalists, among others.[16]
Each participating broadcaster assembles a five-member jury panel consisting of music industry professionals for the semi-finals and final of the Eurovision Song Contest, ranking all entries except for their own. The juries' votes constitute 50% of the overall result alongside televoting.[20]
^No country has always participated in the final since the introduction of semi-finals in 2004. Ukraine, despite having always reached the final, did not participate in the 2015 and 2019 contests. Additionally, the 2020 contest was cancelled due to theCOVID-19 pandemic. The "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are also not counted in this list since they receive automatic qualification to the final.
^The other country to have done so isLuxembourg, which qualified for the final in both editions since its return to the contest in2024.
^According to thethen-Eurovision rules, the top ten non-Big Four countries from the previous year along with the Big Four automatically qualified for the Grand Final without having to compete in semi-finals. For example, if Germany and France placed inside the top ten, the 11th and 12th spots were advanced to next year's Grand Final along with all countries ranked in the top ten.
^Ukraine was unable to host the 2023 contest due to security concerns resulting from theRussian invasion of Ukraine. The United Kingdom, as the second-placing country in the 2022 contest, hosted on Ukraine's behalf, with Ukraine automatically qualifying for the 2023 final as the previous year's winning country.
^The semi-finals on Radio Promin featured TV commentary by Miroshnychenko while radio presenters Oleksandra Franko and Yevhen Pavliukovskyi provided studio discussions during TV commercial breaks.[35]
^The broadcast of the semi-finals mostly featured TV commentary by Miroshnychenko. Only the second recaps (which Miroshnychenko left unnarrated on TV) were commentated on by Zakharchenko and Antypenko. The broadcasts also included brief studio discussions and brief on-site reports byAnna Zakletska between the close of the voting window and results announcements, which were presented by Zakharchenko and Antypenko.
For the most recent participation see
Istanbul
Helsinki
Belgrade
Stockholm.jpeg)
_cropped.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
