After a one year absence, Ukraine rejoins the Eurovision song contest this year and starts it national selection process tonight with the first of two semi-finals.
Nine acts will perform tonight and through a combination of SMS voting by the public and a jury vote, three contestants will move on to the final on 21 February, where they will be joined by another three acts from the second semi-final on 13 February. The jury is made up of 2004 Eurovision winner Ruslana, Andrei Danilko, who came second in 2007 as his alter ego Verka Serduchka, and composer Konstantine Meladze.
The acts performing tonight are
- Jamala – 1944
- The Hardkiss – Helpless
- Brunettes Shoot Blondes – Every Monday
- Svitlana Tarabarova – Never again
- Vladislav Kurasov – I’m insane
- Aida Nikolajchuk – Inner power
- Låvika – Hold me
- Tonya Matvienko – Tin whistle
- Anastasia Prykhodko – I am free now
How to watch
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You can watch tonight’s first semi-final at 18:00 CET tonight on the following channels:
- UA:First
- Live webcast
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Prior to not taking part in the 2015 contest, Ukraine had a strong history of results in the Eurovision Song Contest, since their debut in 2003 they never failed to make the final, and had a top five finish five times.