The Kalush Orchestra, which represents Ukraine at Eurovision, has reached the finals of the international song contest.

Soloist Oleg Psyuk dedicated the song Stefania, with which the band performed at the competition, to his mother and all the women who protect their children from the horrors of war.

Kalush Orchestra was the sixth in Turin, Italy, to host the competition.

The whole PalaOlimpico hall applauded the Ukrainians. Many spectators also held blue and yellow flags.

Switzerland, Armenia, Iceland, Lithuania, Portugal, Norway, Greece, Moldova and the Netherlands also entered the Eurovision final.

A total of 17 participants competed for the right to represent their country in the finals of the competition on Wednesday.

The second semifinal will take place on May 12, in which 18 more countries will compete.

And on May 14, the selected finalists will compete for the Eurovision Song Contest.

Russia has been disqualified from participating in Eurovision this year because of the war against Ukraine.

Italy is hosting Eurovision for the third time in its history – previously in Naples (1965) and Rome (1991).

Before the trip to Turin Kalush Orchestra had a tour of Europe. The band visited Israel, the Netherlands, Spain and Poland, where they gave charity concerts to help Ukraine.

Immediately after returning to Ukraine, the musicians performed on the square in Irpen.

Last year, Ukraine was represented at Eurovision by the band Go_A, which won the 2020 national selection. But Eurovision in 2020 was not held due to a pandemic.

Therefore, the band “Go_A” participated in Eurovision in 2021 and with the song Shum then took fifth place.

Ukraine has already won Eurovision twice before. In 2004, Ruslana did it with the song “Wild Dances”, and in 2016 – Jamala with the song “1944”.

Participants from Ukraine also took second place twice and were among the top five several times.

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