(16 May 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Basel, Switzerland – 15 May 2025
1. Ukraine representative for Eurovision, Ziferblat, posing for photos with fans
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Valentyn Leshchynskyi, Singer, Ziferblat:
“It’s like a national day of national outfits in Ukraine. I mean, you see us wearing this kind of, it’s called Vyshevanka. So, yeah, the Ukrainian diaspora that is living here celebrating in this kind of way. So, we just had some Ukrainian dishes, right, like five minutes ago. I see, I’m really enjoying that people, even if they’re not at homes, they’re far away from Ukraine, they’re trying to bring the traditions here to show what we are, yeah, so that’s it.”
3. Wide of Ukrainian event
4. Mid of Ziferblat eating Ukrainian food
5. Wide of event and Ukrainian flag
6. Wide of Ziferblat members and crowd singing Ukrainian national anthem
7. Mid of women singing Ukrainian national anthem
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Valentyn Leshchynskyi, Singer, Ziferblat:
“We have two missions here because we are representing Ukraine during the war times and so we need to remind Europeans about the war. So we are fundraising to buy some robotic systems to demine Ukraine, a big part of Ukrainian territories that we can compare like this part of the Ukrainian territory to like three and a half Switzerland, you know, is equal to three and half Switzerland. And the second goal, of course, we represent the whole nation that is suffering because of the war and we need to get a high position."
9. Wide of women singing Ukrainian national anthem
10. Wide of Ziferblat and crowd signing Ukrainian national anthem
11. Wide of Sizerblatt sitting at table during event with fans
12. Mid of fans holding up posters and Ukrainian flags
13. Wide of fans holding up Ukrainian flag
STORYLINE:
Ukraine’s musicians can’t escape war, even at the Eurovision Song Contest.
Rock band Ziferblat had arrived in Basel, Switzerland to represent their country, only to learn that the home of backing singer Khrystyna Starykova in a frontline region of eastern Ukraine had been destroyed by Russian shelling.
Ziferblat are twin brothers Daniil Leshchynskyi on vocals and Valentyn Leshchynskyi on guitar, plus drummer Fedir Khodakov.
Valentyn says Khrystyna showed bravery and strength in dealing with the loss, which happened during their rehearsals for Eurovision in Basel.
Ziferblat are set to compete in Saturday’s grand final with "Bird of Pray," a track whose intense vocals and prog rock sound owe something to the 1970s – as does the front man’s pink bell-bottomed suit.
Ukraine is a longtime Eurovision competitor – as was its neighbor Russia. Both saw their relationship with the continental pop contest transformed by Moscow’s full-scale invasion three years ago.
Russia was kicked out. Ukrainian folk-rap group Kalush Orchestra won the contest in 2022, less than three months after the invasion.
With it came the right to host. When war made that impossible, Liverpool stepped in to stage a contest with a distinctly Ukrainian flavor, with the city bedecked in blue and yellow Ukrainian flags.
Even before the full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s competitors were part cultural diplomat, out to tell the world about their country’s history, music and language.
Ukrainian singer Jamala won the contest in 2016 — two years after Russia illegally seized Crimea — with a song about the expulsion of Crimean Tatars by Stalin in 1944.
Kalush Orchestra’s wining song "Stefania" blended rapping in Ukrainian with a haunting refrain on a traditional Ukrainian wind instrument.
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