Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2025

Ukraine will be represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2025, which will be held in Basel, Switzerland. The Ukrainian participating broadcaster Suspilne will organise the national final Vidbir 2025 in order to select its entry for the contest.

Eurovision Song Contest 2025
Participating broadcasterSuspilne
Country Ukraine
National selection
Selection processVidbir 2025
Selection date(s)8 February 2025
Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2024 2025

Background

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Prior to the 2025 contest, the National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU) until 2016, and the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (UA:PBC/Suspilne) since 2017 had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 19 times since its first entry in 2003.[1] It had won the contest on three occasions: in 2004 with the song "Wild Dances" performed by Ruslana, in 2016 with the song "1944" performed by Jamala, and in 2022 with the song "Stefania" performed by Kalush Orchestra. They had been the runner-up in the contest on two occasions: in 2007 with the song "Dancing Lasha Tumbai" performed by Verka Serduchka and in 2008 with the song "Shady Lady" performed by Ani Lorak. Following the introduction of semi-finals in 2004, Ukraine had managed to qualify to final in every contest they participated in thus far. Its least successful result had been 24th place, which they achieved in 2017 with the song "Time" performed by O.Torvald.

As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, Suspilne organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. Suspilne confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest on 10 September 2024.[2] In the past, the broadcaster had alternated between both internal selections and national finals in order to select its entry. Between 2022 and 2024, Suspilne had set up national finals with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision, with both the public and a panel of jury members involved in the selection. The method was continued to select the 2025 Ukrainian entry.[3]

Before Eurovision

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Vidbir 2025

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Vidbir 2025 will be the ninth edition of Vidbir which will select the Ukrainian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2025. The competition will consist of a final 8 February 2025 and will take place in Kyiv.[4][5]

Format

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The selection of the competing entries for the national final and ultimately the Ukrainian Eurovision entry will take place over three stages. In the first stage, artists and songwriters had the opportunity to apply for the competition either through an online submission form. Twenty acts were longlisted and announced on 11 December 2024.[6] The second stage will involve the longlisted artists attending a scheduled audition. Up to nine acts will be selected, while an additional act will be selected from an online selection.[7] The third stage will be the televised final, which will take place in February 2025 and featured the acts vying to represent Ukraine in Basel. The winner will be selected via the combination of votes from a public vote and an expert jury, the latter of which its members will be selected by the public.[8]

Competing entries

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Artists and composers had the opportunity to submit their entries via an online submission form which accepted entries between 17 September 2024 and 10 November 2024. Only artists that had not performed in events organized by/located in the territory of "the aggressor state" or illegally entered the territory of Crimea since 15 March 2014 were allowed to apply for the competition, and songs performed in the "language of the aggressor state" were prohibited.[8][9] 2006 Ukrainian Eurovision entrant Tina Karol was assigned as the new music producer of the competition and was the lead in reviewing the 374 received submissions. 20 entries were longlisted, of which their artists were announced on 11 December 2024.[6][10] Auditions were held in late December 2024 where nine entries were shortlisted to compete in the national final. On 20 December 2024, the nine selected competing acts were announced.[11] A public online vote among the non-qualifying entries of the auditions will be held by 17 January 2025 to determine an additional competing act.[12]

Longlisted artists
Online wildcard
Artist Song Songwriter(s) Votes Place
Brykulets TBA
Enleo
Fiїnka
Grisana
Mon Fia
Muayad
Ranrawi
Slukhay Sashu
Starykova Hrystyna
Teslenko
Yagódy
Vidbir 2025 participating entries
Artist Song Songwriter(s)
Abiye "Dim" (Дім) TBA
DK Enerhetyk "Sil'" (Cіль)
Future Culture "Waste My Time"
Khayat "Honor"
Krylata "Stay True"
Masha Kondratenko "No Time to Cry"
Molodi "My Sea"
Vlad Sheryf "Wind of Change"
Ziferblat "Bird of Pray"

Jury members selection

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For the jury member selection, ten candidates were presented to the public which will be able to vote via the Diia mobile application between 16 and 23 December 2024. The three candidates with the most votes will be selected.[13]

Jury members selection – 16-23 December 2024
Candidate Occupation(s) Score Result
Andrii Hutsuliak Winner of Vidbir 2023 and Ukrainian representative in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 as part of Tvorchi TBA
Anna Svyrydova Television and radio presenter
Dmytro Shurov Musician
Dymtro Zezyulin Lead singer and composer of the band Latexfauna [uk]
Jamala Winner of Vidbir 2016 and of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016
Kateryna Pavlenko Winner of Vidbir 2020 and Ukrainian representative in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 as part of Go_A
Katya Tsaryk Film director and screenwriter
Oleh Psiuk Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 as part of Kalush Orchestra
Sasha Chemerov Musician, singer and producer
Serhiy Tanchynets [uk] Music producer, singer and musician

References

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  1. ^ "Ukraine Country Profile". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  2. ^ Jiandani, Sanjay (Sergio) (10 September 2024). "Ukraine: Suspilne confirms participation at Eurovision 2025". ESCToday. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
  3. ^ Granger, Anthony (13 September 2024). "Ukraine: Tina Karol Music Producer for Vidbir 2025". Eurovoix. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
  4. ^ "Ukraine 2025: 'Vidbir' returns, with a public vote to finalise the lineup". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union (EBU). 17 September 2024. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
  5. ^ Veen, Renske ten (13 November 2024). "Ukraine: Polina Dashkova, Ziferblat and ENLEO among the acts submitting Vidbir 2025 bids". wiwibloggs. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  6. ^ a b "Суспільне оголосило лонглист Нацвідбору-2025" [Suspilne announced the longlist of the National Selection 2025] (in Ukrainian). Suspilne. 11 December 2024. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
  7. ^ "Ukraine: Vidbir 2025 Lineup Revealed!". ESC United. 12 December 2024. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
  8. ^ a b "ПРАВИЛА національного відбору на участь у Пісенному конкурсі Євробачення – 2025 -" [Rules for the national selection to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2025]. Євробачення 2024 (in Ukrainian). 17 September 2024. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
  9. ^ Conte, Davide (17 September 2024). "🇺🇦 Ukraine: Submission Window for Vidbir 2025 Opens". Eurovoix. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
  10. ^ Thomson, Euan (13 November 2024). "374 songs submitted to Vidbir 2025". That Eurovision Site. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
  11. ^ Andersson, Rafaell (20 December 2024). "Ukraine: Nine Finalists Selected for Vidbir 2025". Eurovoix. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  12. ^ Farren, Neil (11 December 2024). "Ukraine: Vidbir 2025 Longlist Revealed". Eurovoix. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
  13. ^ Farren, Neil (16 December 2024). "Ukraine: Vidbir 2025 Jury Voting Opened". Eurovoix. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
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