The exclusion of Russia from the competition was already a victory for Ukraine.
And it is total since the country won, Saturday evening May 14, in Italy the 66th Eurovision Song Contest, thanks to the vote of viewers who voted for the group representing the country invaded at the end of February by Russian troops.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed his country's victory by linking it to the Russian invasion, with this sentence written on his Facebook page: "Our courage impresses the world, our music conquers Europe. next year, Ukraine will host the Eurovision Song Contest."
"I thank Kalush Orchestra for this victory and all the people who gave us their vote! I am sure that the victory against our enemy is near", added Volodymyr Zelensky.
Kalush Orchestra, which takes its name from the western Ukrainian city of Kalush, performed the song "Stefania" in Ukrainian, which mixes rap and traditional folk music and pays tribute to the singer's mother Oleh Psiuk.
Congratulations to Ukraine for their victory đź‘Źđź‘Ź, and well done to @alvan_music and @ahezmusic!
We are proud of you !
Thanks for being with us, see you next year!
đź‘‹
Relive the evening at https://t.co/hbLxAmmRIW 👉 https://t.co/X8wS1JfBzI#Eurovision pic.twitter.com/NnpvjT2N7O
— Eurovision France 🇫🇷 (@EurovisionF2) May 14, 2022
This song collected 631 points, ahead of the British Sam Ryder and his title "Space Man" (466 points) and the Spanish singer Chanel with "Slo Mo" (459 points), during the evening organized in Turin, Italy, country winner last year.
The Swedish Cornelia Jakobs arrives 4th with a fairly classic glamor ("Hold me closer").
France, represented this year by the Breton group Alvan & Ahez, ranked penultimate, in 24th place in the ranking.
No sanction despite a political message
As in the two semi-finals organized this week in Turin, a tide of blue and yellow flags of the country under the grapeshot of the Russian army swept into the arena of the Pala Olimpico in the Piedmontese capital where the 25 finalists performed. .
At six on stage, the members of the Kalush Orchestra group, all of fighting age, benefited from a temporary exemption issued by the government of kyiv, but they will have to return home to take up arms as soon as the competition is over.
One of them stayed in the country.
"A member of the group joined the territorial defense of kyiv on the third day of the war," singer Oleh Psiuk told AFP before Saturday night's final.
"We are very worried about him, we hope to find him safe and sound when we return."
The singer of Kalush Orchestra took advantage of this audience to launch an appeal in favor of the city of Mariupol at the end of their performance.
"Please help Ukraine. Help Azovstal," shouted Oleh Psiuk.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which oversees the competition, has indicated that it will not take sanctions against the group while political messages are generally prohibited at Eurovision.
"We understand the feelings that are linked to Ukraine at this time, and we believe that the statements of the Kalush Orchestra and other artists expressing their support for the Ukrainian people are more related to humanitarian issues than political issues", the EBU said in a statement.
It is Ukraine's second victory in this competition after that of 2016 - two years after the annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea by Russia - with Jamala and the title "1944", a song recounting the deportation of the Tatars by Stalin.
The bookmakers had made the group the favorite of the annual competition, which attracts nearly 200 million viewers who can take part in the votes with the official jury, due to the fate of Ukraine and its invasion by Russia in February.
The exclusion of Russia
An invasion which has earned Moscow numerous international sanctions, including exclusions from sports competitions, but also from Eurovision.
On February 25, the day after Russian troops entered Ukraine, the EBU announced that Russia had been banned from the 66th edition.
"Given the unprecedented crisis in Ukraine, the inclusion of Russian participation in this year's competition would damage the reputation of the competition," the EBU said in a statement.
If it regularly happens to songs to be retorted because deemed too political in a competition which proclaims not to do so, it is rare to see a country simply disqualified for its actions.
You have to go back almost thirty years to find a similar decision.
In the 1993 contest, Yugoslavia, then led by Slobodan Milosevic, was banned from Eurovision following UN sanctions related to the war in the Balkans.
With AFP and Reuters
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