As always, it was exciting until – almost – the end.

This is exactly how it should be at the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC), which is why the awarding of points has been repeatedly adjusted and refined.

What initially looked like a head-to-head race between the United Kingdom and Sweden turned out to be such a superior victory for the favorite, who had been high for weeks, that the competitors could only humbly applaud and congratulate.

The juries saw the United Kingdom ahead with 283 points, followed by Sweden (258) and Spain (231).

The Ukraine was only fourth, the band Kalush Orchestra had 91 points less than the Brit Sam Ryder.

But then the spectator points were gradually added up - starting with the country in last, 25th place.

But more on that later.

Peter Philipp Schmitt

Editor in the department "Germany and the World".

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It was well after midnight when Kalush Orchestra's audience points were finally announced: 439. Altogether that was an incredible 631 points.

Only the Portuguese Salvador Sobral scored more points in 2017: 758. Early on Sunday morning, the three better placed were still missing points, but it was basically foreseeable that neither Spain (it ended up with 459 points) nor Sweden ( 438) or the United Kingdom (466) could even come close.

No victory just out of pity

The enthusiasm was boundless, from the spectators as well as from the Kalush Orchestra.

They had put on a terrific performance, time after time in the Turin days.

And also in the grand finale of the ESC.

It would not be fair to say that they only won because their country is facing such immeasurable suffering right now.

Almost out of pity.

Nevertheless, the six artists saw themselves not only as artists, but also as ambassadors of their homeland, which was under fire.

The first words of singer Oleh Psiuk were therefore also a thank you for all the support: "This victory is for all Ukrainians."

Shortly before the final he said he was worried about his family back home.

Above all, of course, about his mother Stefania, for whom he wrote the song that Kalush Orchestra sang in Turin in the first place.

And that before the ESC last year.

"I never dedicated a song to my mother," Psiuk said.

"And I can't even say that our relationship has been particularly close in the past.

But one thing I do know: she deserves a song.

It's the best thing I've ever done for her."

His song "Stefania" soon took on a life of its own: it became the anthem of an entire country after Vladimir Putin had Ukraine invaded on behalf of Russia.

Suddenly, the song took on a new meaning - it was no longer just about love for the mother, but also for the motherland.

It says, for example: "I will always find my way home, even if the roads are destroyed." From today's perspective, what Psiuk wrote down long before the war sounds almost prophetic.

"Help Mariupol, help Azovtal - now!"

Kalush Orchestra scored particularly well with the audience with a moving production on stage.

It was less the hip-hop and breakdance interludes and more the folkloric sounds that almost moved some to tears.

Add to that the huge, sad eyes of a battered mother who stretched out her hands to the audience in a pleading, almost pleading manner – LED walls on the back wall and on the floor made it possible.

At the end Psiuk shouted: "Help Ukraine, Mariupol, help Azovstal - now!" Was that a politicization of the supposedly non-political song contest?