Competing entries
Artists and composers had the opportunity to submit their entries via an online submission form which accepted entries between 3 September 2025 and 27 October 2025. [5] 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 territories of Crimea and Belarus since 15 March 2014 and 24 February 2022, respectively, were allowed to apply for the competition, and songs performed in the "language of the aggressor state" (referring to the Russian language) were prohibited. [9] Jamala, who won the 2016 contest for Ukraine, was assigned as the new music producer of the competition and was the lead in reviewing the 451 received submissions. [10] [11] 15 entries were longlisted, of which their artists were announced on 24 November 2025. [6] Auditions were held on 26 November 2025 where nine entries were shortlisted to compete in the national final. [12] On 3 December 2025, the nine selected competing acts were announced. [7] The online selection, featuring the six non-qualifying entries from the auditions, was held between 8 and 13 January 2026. [8] The winner, Khayat, was announced on 13 January. [13]
Among the competing artists are Monokate, who represented Ukraine in 2021 as part of Go_A, and Jerry Heil, who represented Ukraine in 2024 alongside Alyona Alyona. Olena Usenko (member of the Elliens) represented Ukraine in Junior Eurovision 2021. [14] [15]
Ukraine