War or Eurovision?
This year the national selection was won by Alyona Alyona & Jerry Heil with the song “Teresa & Maria”, which received the most votes from Ukrainians via the Diia app – more than 720,000.
Ukraine is recognised as one of the most successful countries at Eurovision. People abroad wonder how we manage to take part in the contest, especially in the midst of a full-scale war.
Some people voice their indignation and ask: “Why spend money on Eurovision when we could buy drones for UAH 11 million?”
Journalist Petro Shuklinov, head of the socio-political desk at Liga.net and co-founder of the charitable foundation “Nesemos”, dispels these doubts and explains why Eurovision matters to Ukraine:
“We need tens of billions, square kilometres of weapons and the support of hundreds of millions of EU citizens. That is why we send our artists to shout about us and our struggle to the whole world. That is why we spend money on diplomats, on politicians’ working trips abroad, on cultural lobbying in every possible form. Whether or not you watch Eurovision, it is a platform for our voice across the whole of Europe. It is an investment in our voice. So that we have weapons, so that we have money – lots of money, lots of weapons – this is what it takes.”
In any case, the choice has been made, and we should get ready to support Ukraine at Eurovision.
