Prior to the 2025 contest, Ukraine had participated in the contest nineteen times since its first entry in the 2006 contest. Since then, the country has won the contest on one occasion in 2012 with the song "Nebo" performed by Anastasiya Petryk.[1] The nation originally opted not to take part in the contest in 2018 (due to financial and structural difficulties),[2] but would later be added to the list of participating countries.[3] 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.[4]
Before Junior Eurovision
Natsvidbir na Dytiache Yevrobachennia – 2025
Natsvidbir na Dytiache Yevrobachennia – 2025 was the national final format developed by Suspilne in order to select Ukraine's entry for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2025. The competition consisted of a final held on 12 October 2025, hosted by Anna Tulieva, Masha Kondratenko and Timur Miroshnychenko.[5][6] The show was broadcast on Suspilne Kultura, as well as on Suspilne's online platforms.[7] The slogan for the competition was "Mrii smilyvo!" ("Dream boldly!").[8]
The show was watched by 618 thousand viewers in Ukraine for a 2.88% share, marking an increase of 1.77% share compared to Natsvidbir na Dytiache Yevrobachennia – 2024 as well as the highest viewership values for a Ukrainian national final since 2014.[9]
Format
The selection of the competing entries for the national final took 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 was the music producer of the event, who was in charge of reviewing the received submissions and selecting a longlist of 15 participants, announced on 21 July 2025.[10][11] In the second stage, the longlisted artists were assessed by competition producers Tarabarova, Anton Pozhydaiev and Danylo Diemiekhin[12] alongside Alyona Alyona (who represented Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 with Jerry Heil) and Timur Miroshnychenko at an event labeled as the "star school", which took place at the Recording House of Radio Ukraine in Kyiv,[13][14] where they attended vocal lessons, stage workshops, choreography classes and sessions with psychologists to help them manage performance anxiety,[15] with twelve acts, announced on 8 September, proceeding to the top twelve stage of the competition,[16] then nine acts, announced on 21 September, proceeding to the top nine stage,[17] and eventually six acts, announced on 28 September, directly qualifying for the final.[18][19] The third stage consisted of Alyona Alyona and Tarabarova–the head songwriters of the competition–writing and assigning six original songs for the finalists;[20] no original song submitted by a competing artist made the final.[21]
The six selected artists took part in a final on 12 October 2025, where the winner was 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.[7][22] The preparation for the final, including the "star school" and finalist selection process, was documented in the show Shchodennyky Dytiachoho Yevrobachennia ("Junior Eurovision Diaries"), consisting of six broadcasts hosted by Miroshnychenko and Tulieva and aired weekly on Suspilne Kultura between 7 September and 5 October 2025.[23][24]
Competing entries
The submission process for interested artists aged between nine and fourteen was open between 16 June and 10 July 2025.[8] 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. Complete submissions were not given precedence, with Suspilne reserving the right to replace a song submitted by an eventual finalist with a new entry of its choice if such a case was to occur.[25] At the closing of the submission process, 510 applications had been received.[26] The producers also reserved the option to form one finalist act by combining multiple acts that had reached the top nine stage,[25] which was later invoked.[a] The songs were released on the official Eurovision Ukraine YouTube channel on 29 September.[27]
The final took place on 12 October 2025. 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).[28] In addition to the competing entries, the guest performers included Artem Kotenko with "Hear Me Now", Tarabarova and Berestovyi with "Spy, kotyku mylyi", Alyona Alyona with "Tato", Ziferblat with "Bird of Pray" and Masha Kondratenko with a medley of her songs, after which the finalists performed a common song titled "Mrii smilyvo" alongside Alyona Alyona and Tarabarova.[29][30] 190,071 Ukrainians ultimately voted on the Diia app.[31] Ten-year-old Kyiv-born Ukrainian-Armenian[32] singer Sofiia Nersesian was declared the winner with the song "Motanka".[33]
1 2 3 4 Originally, Mariia Sviiazova had qualified for the final, with Anhelina Hlohus and the duo consisting of Zlata Ivaniv and Vladyslav Vasytskyi being formed into one finalist act by the producers. However, following Sviiazova's withdrawal due to "family circumstances", the remaining artists advanced to the final as two individual acts.[18]
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Ukraine