Ukraine is set to be represented at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2025 with the song "Motanka", written by Svitlana Tarabarova and performed by Sofiia Nersesian. The Ukrainian participating broadcaster, Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (Suspilne), will organise the national final Natsvidbir na Dytiache Yevrobachennia–2025 in order to select its entry for the contest.
Prior to the 2025 contest, Ukraine had participated in the contest nineteen times, without ever missing an edition since its debut appearance in 2006.[1] The country came second in 2008 with the song "Matrosy" performed by Viktoria Petryk, which remained its best result until 2012, when Anastasiya Petryk–who happens to be Viktoria's younger sister–represented the country with the song "Nebo" and won the contest.[2] Ukraine has hosted the event twice, both times in its capital city, Kyiv: at the Palace of Sports in 2009– the same venue that previously hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005–and at the Palace "Ukraine" in 2013.[3][4] In 2024, Artem Kotenko[uk] competed for Ukraine with the song "Hear Me Now", which ended up in 3rd place out of 17 entries with 203 points.[5]
Before Junior Eurovision
Natsvidbir na Dytiache Yevrobachennia–2025
Natsvidbir na Dytiache Yevrobachennia–2025 is the national final format developed by Suspilne in order to select Ukraine's entry for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2025. The competition consists of a final held on 12 October 2025, hosted by Timur Miroshnychenko, Anna Tulieva and Masha Kondratenko.[6][7]
Format
Svitlana Tarabarova, music producer of Natsvidbir na Dytiache Yevrobachennia–2025
The selection of the competing entries for the national final will take place over three stages. In the first stage, artists could apply for the competition through an online submission form. For the third year in a row, Svitlana Tarabarova is the music producer of the event,[8] who was in charge of reviewing the received submissions and selecting a longlist of 15 participants, announced on 21 July 2025.[9][10] In the second stage, longlisted artists were assessed by a five-member expert council consisting of music producer Svitlana Tarabarova, creative producer Anton Pozhydayev, director of the selection Danilo Demykhin, television presenter Timur Miroshnychenko, and singer Alyona Alyona–who represented Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 alongside Jerry Heil–at an event labeled as the "Star School",[11][12][13] and eventually five acts directly qualifying for the final, while a sixth act will be formed by the production and will be composed of several artists initially eliminated from "Star School".[14] The third and final stage, consist of music producer Tarabarova and Alyona Alyona, who will write and assign original songs to the finalists.[15][16] The six selected acts will take part in a final on October 2025, where the winner will be determined by a 50/50 combination of jury and public votes–the latter being cast through the Diia application over two phases of voting and taking precedence in the event of a tie.
The preparations for the final were documented via the show Shchodennyky Dytiachoho Yevrobachennia ("Junior Eurovision Diaries"), consisting of five broadcasts weekly hosted by Timur Miroshnychenko and Anna Tulieva and on Suspilne Kultura starting from 7 September 2025.
Competing entries
The submission process for interested artists aged between nine and fourteen was open between 16 June and 10 July 2025.[8][17] All submissions required participants to enter covers of two songs and a separate introduction video; however, artists were also allowed to submit original songs for consideration. Precedence was not given to complete submissions, with Suspilne also reserving the right to replace a song submitted by an eventual finalist with a new entry of its choice if such a case occurs.[17] At the closing of the submission process, 510 applications had been received, with roughly 10% of them also including an original song.[14][18]
The final took place on 12 October 2025. The show opened with Artem Kotenko[uk] performing his 2024 Junior Eurovision entry "Hear Me Now". The members of the jury were Michelle Andrade (singer and television presenter), Natela Chkhartishvili-Zatsarynna (general producer of M1 and M2), and Vlad Darwin[uk] (singer-songwriter and record producer).[21]
In addition to the competing entries, the guest performers included Svitlana Tarabarova and Berestovyi with "Spy, kotyku mylyi", Alyona Alyona with "Tato", Ziferblat with "Bird of Pray" alongside the finalists, and Masha Kondratenko with "Megamix", after which the finalists performed a common song entitled "Mrii smilyvo" alongside Tarabarova and Alyona Alyona.[22]
1 2 3 Originally, Mariia Sviiazova had been selected as a finalist, while Anhelina Hlohus and the duo consisting of Zlata Ivaniv and Vladyslav Vasytskyi formed one act, as decided by the producers; however, following Sviiazova's withdrawal due to "family circumstances", the remaining contestants advanced to the final as two individual acts.
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