Ukraine debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 with a 14th-place finish for Oleksandr Ponomaryov, before winning on their second attempt in Turkey when Ruslana won the 2004 contest with her song, Wild Dances.
The country was one of the best point scorers and had participated in every contest up until they withdrew in 2015, where NTU, the broadcaster stated they had a lack of funds for participation.
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine was another factor - something which would also play a role in Ukraine's second withdrawal four years later.
In 2016, the country staged a national final for the first time, where Jamala was selected to perform the song 1944. She won the contest and broke Alexander Rybak's points record by a huge margin due to the introduction of the current scoring system, despite only coming second in both the jury and in the televote.
Ukraine is the only country to have a perfect qualification record in the semifinals to date, after Australia failed to qualify for the first time in 2021.
Gallery[]
Participations[]
Year | Artist | Song | Language | Place | Points | Semi | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2003 | Olexandr | Hasta la Vista | English | 14 | 30 | No Semi Final | |
2004 | Ruslana | Wild Dances | Ukrainian, English | 1 | 280 | 2 | 256 |
2005 | GreenJolly | Razom nas bahato | 19 | 30 | Host of 2005 | ||
2006 | Tina Karol | Show Me Your Love | English | 7 | 145 | 7 | 146 |
2007 | Verka Serduchka | Dancing Lasha Tumbai | German, English, Russian, Ukrainian | 2 | 235 | Top 10 in 2006 | |
2008 | Ani Lorak | Shady Lady | English | 2 | 230 | 1 | 152 |
2009 | Svetlana Loboda | Be My Valentine (Anti Crisis Girl) | 12 | 76 | 6 | 80 | |
2010 | Alyosha | Sweet People | 10 | 108 | 7 | 77 | |
2011 | Mika Newton | Angel | 4 | 159 | 6 | 81 | |
2012 | Gaitana | Be My Guest | 15 | 65 | 8 | 64 | |
2013 | Zlata Ognevich | Gravity | 3 | 214 | 3 | 140 | |
2014 | Mariya Yaremchuk | Tick-Tock! | 6 | 113 | 5 | 118 | |
2015 | Did not participate | ||||||
2016 | Jamala | 1944 | English, Crimean Tatar | 1 | 534 | 2 | 287 |
2017 | O. Torvald | Time | English | 24 | 36 | Host of 2017 | |
2018 | Melovin | Under The Ladder | 17 | 130 | 6 | 179 | |
2019 | MARUV | Siren Song | Withdrew from competition | ||||
2020 | Go_A | Solovey | Ukrainian | Contest cancelled | |||
2021 | Shum | 5 | 364 | 2 | 267 | ||
2022 | Kalush Orchestra | Stefania | 1 | 631 | 1 | 337 | |
2023 | Tvorchi | Heart of Steel | English, Ukrainian | 6 | 243 | Host of 2023 | |
2024 | Alyona Alyona & Jerry Heil | Teresa & Maria |