The UK is hosting the on behalf of 2022 winners Ukraine, but their President has spoken about why he doesn’t believe it was the best decision.
Due to the ongoing war with the European Broadcasting Union decided that that the event would be able to take place in the ‘newly rebuilt’ country.
UK entrant Sam Ryder placed second behind Kalush Orchestra, and so Liverpool have the honour of hosting.
Zelensky has now spoken on the decision, and his desire for the situation to be different.
While the political leader has ‘lots of respect’ for the ‘amazing country,’ he wishes that a country closer to Ukraine could have been chosen.
While speaking at the headquarters in capital Kyiv, Zelensky said that a neighbouring country ‘where our people could travel to and be very close’ would have been ideal.
In the interview for public service broadcasters including the he added: ‘The main thing is that the contest is taking place. Let the people show their talent.’
Liverpool is ensuring that Ukraine are put at the forefront of the competition.
, Tim Routledge told Metro.co.uk: ‘It’s definitely not a British show. It’s in the UK, but we’re standing side by side with Ukraine.’
In the opening sequence at the first live semi-final a video called ‘Welcome to Liverpool’ featured Ukraine flags, as well as famous faces from the country. This included Ukrainian Everton footballer Vitalii Mykolenko and Ukrainian Strictly Come Dancing professional Nikita Kuzmin.
spoke to the at an opening party about the UK taking on hosting duties.
‘It’s good that it’s being staged in the UK. We see lots of Ukrainian colours, and the main thing is safety.’
He hopes that this year’s competition will send a reminder to the world to not forget about Ukraine.
‘The war in Ukraine is continuing. It’s not finished yet and we want to remind people that they shouldn’t lose track of it and it should be in the headlines.’
Tymofii is actually hoping that UK’s entrant Mae Muller takes the win for a special reason: ‘Of course we are sad that it’s not being staged in Ukraine but I hope that the UK entry wins, then we can swap and hold Eurovision in Ukraine.’
The second Eurovision semi-final will air tonight at 8pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
