Ukraine has chosen its representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2026

The jury and the audience voted for the performer who will represent Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest 2026, which will be held this year in the Austrian capital, Vienna.

According to Diia, this year 200 thousand people voted through the app.

The winner was the folk-jazz band Leléka, which will perform the song Ridnym at the contest. The song received 10 points from the jury and 10 points from the audience.

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Victoria sang in the Berlin choir Young Voices Brandenburg and with the Flinstones big band in Berlin. In 2016, she also won the StuVo 2016 Berlin Jazz Competition in the category "Unusual Interpretation of a Jazz Standard" and received a scholarship to the New York Voices International Vocal Jazz Camp.

In 2016, Victoria founded the folk-jazz band Leléka in Berlin together with Robert Wirder, Thomas Kolarczyk, and Jakob Gegner. The group won the Creole - Global Music Contest in 2017 and the European Young Jazz Talent Award at the Internationale Jazzwoche Burghausen in 2018, and took second place at the Young Munich Jazz Prize in 2019.

In 2024, she launched the art-pop and electronic music project Donbasgrl, debuting her single "Weapons" based on a poem by Lesya Ukrainka, which was accompanied by a music video on the topic of depression.

Ukraine first participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2003. Back then, the country was represented by Oleksandr Ponomaryov with the song Hasta la vista, who finished fourteenth.

In 2025, the country's entry for the contest was Bird of Pray by Ziferblat. The song Bird of Pray managed to get 137 points, which brought Ukraine the championship in the semifinals. In the final, Ziferblat took 9th place with 218 points, including 60 from the jury (14th place) and 158 from the audience (6th place).

At the Eurovision Song Contest 2024, Ukraine was represented by alyona alyona and Jerry Heil with the song Teresa & Maria. In the first semi-final, the singers took second place with 173 points, which allowed Ukraine to confidently qualify for the final. In the final, Teresa & Maria took 5th place with 146 points from the jury and 3rd place with 307 points from the audience. In the end, Ukraine finished in 3rd place overall with 453 points.

Кирило Бойко