Ukraine’s Tvorchi gains one of the best results among Eurovision 2023 acts

The UK hosted the 67th Eurovision Song Contest finals on the evening of May 13 on behalf of Ukraine because of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra won last year's competition, and the right for Ukraine to host this year’s event, but the security situation in Ukraine made that impossible.

Sweden’s entry by singer Loreen, the favorite to win ahead of the finals, was voted the winner.

Tvorchi’s song Heart of Steel was inspired by the bravery of Ukrainian defenders in Mariupol, who withstood siege of the Azov Iron and Steel Works by Russian invasion forces for almost three months.

The Ukrainian act scored total of 243 points: 54 from the national jury and189 from viewers.

During their performance, Russia launched missiles at Ukraine, and in particular at Ternopil – the Ukrainian pop duo’s hometown.

Tvorchi – Andrii Hutsuliak and Nigeria-raised vocalist Jeffery Kenny – learned about the attack just ten minutes before their act. In their post on Instagram they called on Europe to be united.

"Europe, unite against evil for the sake of peace!” they wrote.

Video of TVORCHI's performance at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 Grand Fina lLiverpool in the UK hosted Eurovision 2023 on behalf of Ukraine, with acts from 26 countries performing at the competition finals. Ukraine’s entry qualified automatically for the finals, the country having won the previous year’s competition.

As Ukraine should have been this year's host, there were a lot of performances by Ukrainian artists who had either won or took part in Eurovision earlier, including Kalush Orchestra, the 2016 winner Jamala, and former participants Tina Karol, GO_A, and Verka Serduchka. 

Julia Sanina, a Ukrainian singer and the front woman of the Ukrainian rock band The Hardkiss, was one of the evening's hosts. 

Oleh Bondarchuk was the creative producer of the show. Ukrainian brand FROLOV designed costumes for the act.

In addition, Ukrainian music video director Herman Nenov worked with theBBC to create interval acts at the event to reflect Ukrainian culture.