Ukraine was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 with the song "Bird of Pray", written by Danylo Leshchynskyi, Fedir Khodakov and Valentyn Leshchynskyi, and performed by themselves as Ziferblat. The Ukrainian participating broadcaster, the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (Suspilne), organised the national final Vidbir2025 in order to select its entry for the contest. Artists had the chance to apply from 17 September 2024 to 10 November 2024. Twenty entries were longlisted, and, after auditions, nine entries were shortlisted. The entry was selected on February 8, 2025.
Ukraine was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the contest, which took place on 13 May 2025. Performed during the show at position 15 in the running order, "Bird of Pray" placed tenth with 137 points. This qualified the nation to the final held four days later, where the entry was performed 7th in the running order and placed 9th out of the 26 finalists.
Prior to the 2025 contest, the National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU) until 2016, and Suspilne since 2017,[1] had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Ukraine 19 times since its first entry in 2003. It had won the contest on three occasions: in 2004 with the song "Wild Dances" performed by Ruslana, in 2016 with "1944" by Jamala, and in 2022 with the song "Stefania" performed by Kalush Orchestra. It 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. Ukraine had reached third place in two occasions: in 2013 with the song "Gravity" performed by Zlata Ognevich and in 2024 with "Teresa & Maria" performed by Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil.[2] Following the introduction of semi-finals in 2004,[3] Ukraine had managed to qualify to final in every contest it participated in thus far. Its least successful result had been 24th place, which was achieved in 2017 with the song "Time" performed by O.Torvald.[2] 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.[4]Suspilne confirmed its intentions to participate at the 2025 contest on 10 September 2024.[5] Since 2016, Vidbir, the national selection, is used to select entries to participate in Eurovision.[6]
Vidbir 2025 was the ninth edition of Vidbir which selected the Ukrainian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2025. The competition consisted of a final on 8 February 2025, taking place in Kyiv.[7]
Format
The selection of the competing entries for the national final and ultimately the Ukrainian Eurovision entry took place over three stages. In the first stage, artists and songwriters had the opportunity to apply for the competition through an online submission form. Twenty acts were longlisted and announced on 11 December 2024.[8] 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.[9] The third stage was the televised final, which took place in February 2025 and featured the acts vying to represent Ukraine in Basel. The winner was 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.[10]
Competing entries
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" (referring to Russia) 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" (referring to the Russian language) were prohibited.[10][11]Tina Karol, who represented Ukraine in 2006, 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.[8][12] 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.[13] A public online vote among the non-qualifying entries from the auditions will be held by 17 January 2025 to determine an additional competing act.[14]
The three members of the expert jury for Vidbir2025 were selected among nine candidates via a public online vote on the Diia application, open to all Ukrainian citizens from 16 to 23 December 2024.[20] A total of 442,374 votes were cast, with Jamala, Serhiy Tanchynets[uk] and Kateryna Pavlenko being determined as the jurors.[21]
In April, Ziferblat partnered with the Serhiy Prytula Humanitarian Foundation to purchase equipment for humanitarian demining through a fundraiser.[27] On 18 and 19 April, they performed at the Pre-Party ES.[28] On 25 April, Ziferblat performed the song at the Eurovision in Concert—described as the largest promotional concert for Eurovision—in Amsterdam; 30 representatives out of the 37 participants in the contest joined the concert. During their speech, they mentioned a missile attack[uk] on Kryvyi Rih.[29] After winning Vidbir, Ziferblat decided to revamp the song once again for Eurovision. Adding orchestral parts in the chorus as well as a lightened chorus, Valeria Gazhala of Television News Service described the track better following the revamp.[30]
At Eurovision
The Eurovision Song Contest 2025 took place at St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland, and consisted of two semi-finals to be held on the respective dates of 13 and 15 May and the final on 17 May 2025.[31] All nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) were required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete in the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progressed to the final. During the allocation draw held on 28 January 2025, Ukraine was drawn to compete in the first semi-final, performing in the first half of the show.[32] Ukraine performed in position 5, following Estonia and preceding Sweden. In Ukraine, all shows of the contest were broadcast by Suspilne. The main commentator was Timur Miroshnychenko, the host of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017.[33]
Performances
Ziferblat performing at the Eurovision Song Contest
Ziferblat took part in a technical rehearsal on 8 May and a dress rehearsal on 12 May.[34][35] Through the director, major changes were made to the staging from the original Vidbir performance. Intense rehearsals were participated on both in person and online to ease logistical challenges due to having a team outside of Ukraine.[36] One of the backing singers was Khrystyna Starykova, a participant at the 2025 Vidbir national selection.[37] The performance was described as retro-style; bathed in soft pink light, a pair of giant wings unfurled at the climax.[38] The LED walls contained pink and green graphics which matched the timing of the music.[39]
Ukraine performed in the first semi-final at position 5, after Spain's Melody and before Sweden's KAJ.[40] Ukraine qualified for the grand final,[41] and it was later revealed that the country gained 137 points.[42] In the grand final, Ukraine performed 7th in the running order, after Spain's Melody and before the United Kingdom's Remember Monday.[43] Ukraine gained 218 points, placing ninth in the final.[44]
Below is a breakdown of points awarded by and to Ukraine in the first semi-final and in the final. Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting in the final vote, while the semi-final vote was based entirely on the vote of the public.[45] The Ukrainian jury consisted of Dmytro Shurov, Kostiantyn Bocharov, Natela Zatsarynna, Olena Shoptenko-Ivanova and Tetiana Reshetniak.[46] In the first semi-final, Ukraine placed 1st with 137 points, receiving 12 points from Cyprus, Poland, Portugal and Spain. In the final, Ukraine placed 9th with 218 points, receiving 12 points in the televote from Czechia, Poland and Israel. Over the course of the contest, Ukraine awarded 12 points to Norway in the first semi-final, and to Germany (jury) and Lithuania (televote) in the final.[44]
Ukraine qualified for the Grand Final, finishing 1st out of 15 participants with 137 points.[47] In the final, Ukraine performed 7th in the running order, following Spain and preceding United Kingdom.[48] In the final, Ukraine placed 9th with 218 points, finishing in 14th place in the jury voting with 60 points and in 6th place in the televote with 158 points.[49]Suspilne appointed Jerry Heil, who together with alyona alyonarepresented Ukraine in 2024, as its spokesperson to announce the Ukrainian jury's votes in the final.[50]
Each participating broadcaster assembles a five-member jury panel consisting of music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent. Each jury, and individual jury member, is required to meet a strict set of criteria regarding professional background, as well as diversity in gender and age. No member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently.[52]
The following members comprised the Ukrainian jury:[53]
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