Eurovision 2023: Ukraine select their entrant Tvorchi after performance from a Kyiv “bunker”

Ukraine’s Tvirochi become the fourth confirmed Eurovision 2023 entrant, after winning a live final broadcast from a makeshift bunker in Kyiv
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Eurovision 2022 winners Ukraine">Ukraine are hoping to repeat this year’s success after choosing their 2023 entrant over the weekend - with a performance taking place in a makeshift bomb shelter as the conflict between Ukraine and Russia continues. Electro outfit Tvorchi were selected to represent the country in 2023 by a combination of judges and the public.

Much akin to the UK’s broadcasts of Eurovision hopefuls representing Great Britain in the popular song contest, the Ukrainian selection was undertaken after a series of live performances screened by the state broadcaster. 10 acts, from a record 289 entries hoping to represent the Ukraine in Liverpool at the 2023 competition, proceeded to perform to a televised audience - all from the confines of a Metro station that has been converted into a bunker during the armed conflict.

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Tvorchi have already accumulated success in the Ukraine music charts; the duo formed in 2018 when friends Andrew Hutsuliak and Jeffery Augustus Kenny, from Nigeria, met while studying at the Ternopil National Medical University in west Ukraine. The duo, who usually perform in English, won the Ukraine vote with their single Heart Of Steel.

Taking to Instagram after the win, the duo posted: “Thank you, people with hearts of steel. We will do everything to properly represent Ukraine and our eternity."

Ukraine is now the fourth country to have chosen their representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, being held in Liverpool this year despite Ukrainian entry Kalush Orchestra winning the 2022 competition. The decision to move the contest to Great Britain, who finished second in 2022, came during a time when the security of the competition could not be assured amid the ongoing skirmishes between Ukraine and Russia.

Tvorchi will join Cyprus entrant Andrew Lambrou, Israel’s Noa Kirel, Slovenia’s Joker Out and the Netherlands Mia Nicolai and Dion Cooper -  the first set of contestants confirmed for next year’s competition. Unlike the others, however, Ukraine’s win in 2022 guarantees Tvorichi passage into the grand final, alongside the entrants from the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 grand final is set to take place on May 13 from the M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool.

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