Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest

Ukraine has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 18 times since making its debut in 2003. Ukraine has won the contest three times: in 2004 with "Wild Dances" by Ruslana, in 2016 with "1944" by Jamala, and in 2022 with "Stefania" by Kalush Orchestra, thus becoming the first country in the 21st century and the first Eastern European country to win the contest three times. Ukraine hosted the 2005 and 2017 contests in Kyiv.

Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest
Ukraine
Participating broadcasterPublic Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (UA:PBC)
Participation summary
Appearances18 (18 finals)
First appearance2003
Highest placement1st: 2004, 2016, 2022
Host2005, 2017
Related articles
Vidbir
External links
UA:PBC website
Ukraine's page at Eurovision.tv Edit this at Wikidata
For the most recent participation see
Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023

Since the introduction of the semi-final round in 2004, Ukraine is the only country outside of the "Big Five" to have qualified for the final of every contest they have competed in, and has been placed outside the top-ten only six times.[1] Ukraine has a total of eight top-five placements, with Verka Serduchka (2007) and Ani Lorak (2008) both finishing second, Zlata Ognevich third (2013), Mika Newton fourth (2011) and Go_A fifth (2021), in addition to its wins. The only countries with more top-five results in the 21st century are Sweden (13) and Russia (10).

History

Ukraine made its debut in 2003, when Oleksandr Ponomariov finished in 14th place with the song "Hasta la vista".

Ukraine won the contest at the second attempt in 2004, when Ruslana won with the song "Wild Dances", defeating second-placed Serbia and Montenegro by 17 points, 280 to 263. Later in the year, she supported the Orange Revolution and became an MP for one year as part of the new president's alliance.

In 2016, Ukraine became the first Eastern European country to win the contest twice, when Jamala won with her song "1944". The televote was won by Russia and the jury vote by Australia; 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. In 2017, Ukraine was pre-qualified for the final as hosts, however they achieved their worst result to date – 24th place with 36 points.

Ukraine was absent twice from the contest, in 2015 and 2019, for reasons related to the ongoing conflict with Russia:

  • Ukrainian broadcaster NTU sat out the 2015 contest because of financial difficulties in relation to the war in Donbas.[2] However, Ukraine broadcast the contest despite not taking part.[3] NTU pledged to bring Ukraine back to the contest for 2016, which was finalized and announced on 16 September 2015.[4]
  • Vidbir, the Ukrainian national selection for the 2019 contest, was won by Maruv with "Siren Song". However, the Ukrainian broadcaster UA:PBC required any potential representative in the contest to sign a contract which would forbid them from performing in Russia. The winner Maruv, as well as runners-up Freedom Jazz, Kazka and Brunettes Shoot Blondes, all refused to sign the contract, leading to Ukraine's withdrawal from the contest on 27 February.[5]

In 2020, Go_A won the national selection Vidbir and was set to represent Ukraine with the song "Solovey", before the contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They were instead internally selected to represent the country the following year with the song "Shum", with which they finished in fifth place. After the contest, "Shum" entered the Billboard Global 200 at position 158, becoming the first ever Ukrainian-language song to chart there.[6] Ukraine won the contest for a third time in 2022, with the song "Stefania" performed by Kalush Orchestra. "Stefania" later went on to surpass the peak of "Shum" on the Billboard Global 200, charting at position 85.[7]

Since the introduction of the semi-final round in 2004, Ukraine is the only country to have qualified for the final of every Eurovision they have competed in (they were absent from the 2015 and 2019 contests).[note 1] Ukraine has a total of 11 top-ten placements (among those are eight top-five placements). Ukraine's participation and success in the contest has been acknowledged as a factor in the country's growing soft power and international image.[8] This view is shared by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has supported the country's continued participation in the event following the Russian invasion as a way to promote the Ukrainian national cause internationally.[9]

Participation overview

The following lists Ukraine's entries in the Eurovision Song Contest along with their result.[10]

Table key
1 First place
2 Second place
3 Third place
X Entry selected but did not compete
† Upcoming event
Year Artist Song Language Final Points Semi Points
2003 Olexandr "Hasta la vista" English[lower-alpha 1] 14 30 No semi-finals
2004 Ruslana "Wild Dances" English, Ukrainian 1 280 2 256
2005 GreenJolly "Razom nas bahato" (Разом нас багато) Ukrainian, English[lower-alpha 2] 19 30 Host country
2006 Tina Karol "Show Me Your Love" English 7 145 7 146
2007 Verka Serduchka "Dancing Lasha Tumbai" English, German, Surzhyk 2 235 Top 10 in 2006 final[lower-alpha 3]
2008 Ani Lorak "Shady Lady" English 2 230 1 152
2009 Svetlana Loboda "Be My Valentine! (Anti-Crisis Girl)" English 12 76 6 80
2010 Alyosha "Sweet People" English 10 108 7 77
2011 Mika Newton "Angel" English 4 159 6 81
2012 Gaitana "Be My Guest" English 15 65 8 64
2013 Zlata Ognevich "Gravity" English 3 214 3 140
2014 Mariya Yaremchuk "Tick-Tock" English 6 113 5 118
2016 Jamala "1944" English, Crimean Tatar 1 534 2 287
2017 O.Torvald "Time" English 24 36 Host country
2018 Mélovin "Under the Ladder" English 17 130 6 179
2020 Go_A "Solovey" (Соловей) Ukrainian Contest cancelled[lower-alpha 4] X
2021 Go_A "Shum" (Шум) Ukrainian 5 364 2 267
2022 Kalush Orchestra "Stefania" (Стефанія) Ukrainian 1 631 1 337
2023 Tvorchi "Heart of Steel" English, Ukrainian 6 243 Automatically qualified[lower-alpha 5]
2024 TBD February 2024 †[11] Upcoming †

Selection process
See also: National selections for the Eurovision Song Contest
Year Selection process Channel
2003 Internal selectionNTU
2004
2005 National final with 79 participants
2006 National final with 3 participants
2007 National final with 7 participants
2008 Internal selection for artist; national final with 5 songs
2009 National final with 31 participants
2010 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
2011 National final with 31 participants
2012 Online vote with 4 songs; national final with 21 participants
2013 National final with 20 participants
2014
Year Selection process Channel
2016 Vidbir with 18 participants UA:PBC
STB
2017 Vidbir with 24 participants
2018 Vidbir with 18 participants
2019 Vidbir with 16 participants
2020
2021 Internal selection
2022 Vidbir with 8 participants UA:PBC
2023 Vidbir with 10 participants
2024 Vidbir with 11 participants

Hostings
Year Location Venue Presenters
2005 Kyiv Palace of Sports Maria Efrosinina and Pavlo Shylko
2017 International Exhibition Centre Volodymyr Ostapchuk, Oleksandr Skichko and Timur Miroshnychenko

Following its victory in 2022, Ukraine was initially given the opportunity to host the 2023 contest, however, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) later decided that the country would not be able to host due to security concerns caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, making Ukraine the first country since Israel in 1979 to win the contest but not host it the following year.[12] The 2022 runner-up, the United Kingdom, hosted the 2023 contest on Ukraine's behalf, and Ukraine was granted automatic qualification for the final.[13]

Awards

Marcel Bezençon Awards
Further information: Marcel Bezençon Awards
Year Category Song Performer Final Points Host city Ref.
2004 Artistic Award[lower-alpha 6] "Wild Dances" Ruslana 1 280 Turkey Istanbul
[14]
2007 Press Award "Dancing Lasha Tumbai" Verka Serduchka 2 235 Finland Helsinki
[14]
2008 Artistic Award[lower-alpha 6] "Shady Lady" Ani Lorak 2 230 Serbia Belgrade
[15]
2016 Artistic Award[lower-alpha 7] "1944" Jamala 1 534 Sweden Stockholm
[16]

Barbara Dex Award
Further information: Barbara Dex Award
Year Performer Host city Ref.
2007 Verka Serduchka Finland Helsinki
[17]

Heads of delegation
Year Head of delegation Ref.
2004 Pavlo Grytsak
[18]
2007–2016 Victoria Romanova
[19]
2017–present Oksana Skybinska
[20]

Jury members

A five-member jury panel consisting of music industry professionals is made up for every participating country for the semi-finals and final of the Eurovision Song Contest, ranking all entries except for their own country's contribution. The juries' votes constitute 50% of the overall result alongside televoting.[21]

Year 1st member 2nd member 3rd member 4th member 5th member Ref.
2009
 Roman Nedzelskiy Oleksandr Ponomaryov Irena Zagorodnyuk Iryna Rozental Oleksandr Zlotnyk
2014
 Oleksandr Zlotnyk Kateryna Komar Kostiantyn Mishukov Alla Popova Olena Valovyk
2016
 Oleksandr Ksenofontov Maria Burmaka Valentin Koval Valeria Chachibaya Andre France
2017
 Yurii Rybchynsky Illaria Serhiy Grachov Yana Pryadko Serhiy Gagarin
2018
 Vitaliy Klimov Denys Zhupnyk Arthur Danielyan Alla Moskovka Khrystyna Soloviy
2021
 Oleksandr Ponomaryov Illaria Igor Kondratiuk Alla Moskovka Alyona Alyona
2022
 Andriy Yatskiv Andriy Kapral Iryna Fedyshyn Lukian Halkin Vadim Lysycia
2023
 Oleksandr Sydorenko Svitlana Tarabarova Antonina Matviyenko Oleh Sobchuk Evgeny Khmara

Commentators and spokespersons
Year NTU/UA:PBC commentator STB commentator Radio commentator Spokesperson Ref.
2002 Pavlo Shylko, Mariya OrlovaNo broadcastNo broadcastDid not participate
[22]
2003 Pavlo Shylko, Dmytro KryzhanivskyiLyudmyla Hariv
[23][24][25]
2004 Rodion PryntsevskyiPavlo Shylko
[26]
2005 Yaroslav ChornenkyiGalyna BabiyMariya Orlova
[27][28][29]
2006 Pavlo ShylkoNo broadcastIgor Posypaiko
2007 Timur MiroshnychenkoKateryna Osadcha
2008 Marysya Horobets
2009
2010 Iryna Zhuravska
2011 Timur Miroshnychenko, Tetiana TerekhovaOlena ZelinchenkoRuslana
[30]
2012 Oleksiy Matias
2013
2014 Zlata Ognevich
2015 No broadcastDid not participate
2016 Olena ZelinchenkoVerka Serduchka
2017 Tetiana Terekhova, Andrii HorodyskyiZlata Ognevich
2018 Timur Miroshnychenko (all shows)
Mariya Yaremchuk (semi-final 1)
Alyosha (semi-final 2)
Jamala (final)		 Serhiy PrytulaNata Zhyzhchenko
2019 Timur MiroshnychenkoNo broadcastDid not participate
[31]
2021 Olena Zelinchenko (UR1)
Anna Zakletska, Dmytro Zakharchenko (Radio Promin)		 Tayanna
[32][33][34]
2022 No broadcast Timur Miroshnychenko (semi-finals)[lower-alpha 8]
Anna Zakletska, Dmytro Zakharchenko (final)		 Kateryna Pavlenko
[36][35][37]
2023 Oleksandra Franko, Oleksandr Barbelen Zlata Ognevich
[38][39][40]

See also

Notes and references

Notes
  1. No country has always participated in the final since the introduction of semi-finals in 2004. Ukraine, despite having always reached the final, skipped the contest in 2015 and 2019. Additionally, the 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-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.
  1. Contains words in Spanish
  2. Also contains phrases in Polish, German, Spanish, Czech, French and Russian
  3. According to the then-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.
  4. The 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  5. Ukraine was unable to host the 2023 contest due to security concerns resulting from the Russian 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.
  6. Voted by previous winners.
  7. Voted by commentators.
  8. 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]

References
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  6. "Billboard Global Excl. US Chart". Billboard. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
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