On social media, Tvorchi members Andrew Hutsuliak and Jeffrey Kenny thanked those who voted for them and said they would “do everything to worthily represent Ukraine.”
Ukraine won Eurovision in 2022 but, because of the war, could not host the following year’s contest, as the winner traditionally does. The United Kingdom, runner-up in the 2022 contest, is hosting the yearly musical event in 2023 instead.
On Saturday night, as winter temperatures in Kyiv plummeted amid disruptions in heating and electricity caused by Russia’s relentless strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, the Maidan Nezalezhnosti metro station was transformed into a television studio to host Ukraine’s Eurovision selection program, Vidbir.
Ten entries competed for the top combined score from judges and the public. Tvorchi’s “Heart of Steel” beat the runner-up by one point.
The duo has competed to take part in Eurovision before: In February 2020, it performed “Bonfire” in Vidbir but was not selected. The event, which was due to take place in the Netherlands, was canceled because of the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
For their second attempt, on Saturday, the pair sported hand-sown silver and gold hearts on their chests and gave an energetic performance of “Heart of Steel,” whose lyrics, unlike some of the other entries, did not appear to overtly be about the war. But the specter of war was present throughout the performance, with dancers joining Hutsuliak and Kenny onstage wearing gas masks, as the international warning sign for radiation flashed on screens in the background.
“I just want to say thank you, Ukraine,” Kenny told viewers after the win, according to the BBC.
“We didn’t think we’d win but we want to say thank you to everyone who supported us, who listens to our music and who are fighting on the front line,” Hutsuliak added.
Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra won Eurovision in 2022, less than three months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which sent shock waves through Europe that reverberated even inside the quirky musical world of Eurovision. The European Broadcasting Union, which puts on the yearly event, kicked Russia out of the contest in 2022. Russia is again not listed as a participant for 2023.
When Ukraine won, President Volodymyr Zelensky said he hoped his country would “host the participants and guests of Eurovision in Ukrainian Mariupol” — the southern port city that Russian troops wrecked early in the war.
But seven months later, the war still rages, and Ukraine will not host the Eurovision contest because of what executives called “safety and security reasons.”
Ukraine has won Eurovision three times. It is the first country to reveal its choice of song for 2023, though four other countries — Cyprus, Israel, the Netherlands and Slovenia — have chosen their acts.
Kyiv and other cities in Ukraine were subjected to a deadly wave of strikes from Russia on Friday that temporarily knocked out power and heating for millions of people. Power had been restored to 6 million people by Saturday night, though many households still face cuts, with the national energy operator warning that ice and winds would make repairs more difficult.
“People with burning eyes and truly steel hearts worked on our performance, in order to convey our message to the world,” Tvorchi said Sunday in an Instagram post. “In limited conditions, underground, in the cold, without light, with constant noise, but we succeeded,” they added.
“Liverpool are you ready? We are YES!”
David L. Stern contributed to this report.
