Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019
Ukraine initially intended to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The Ukrainian broadcaster,, organised a national final in collaboration with the commercial broadcaster STB, in order to find the Ukrainian representative for the 2019 contest. On February 23 Maruv emerged as the winner with the "Siren Song". Right after the show, it was announced that Maruv would sign a participation agreement, but she refused. On 25 February, UA:PBC officially announced Maruv's withdrawal and that they would select the representative via internal selection.
On 27 February, UA:PBC announced the withdrawal of the country.
Background
Prior to the 2019 Contest, Ukraine had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifteen times since its first entry in. The nation had won the contest on two occasions: in with the song "Wild Dances" performed by Ruslana and in with the song "1944" performed by Jamala. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the, Ukraine had managed to qualify to the final in every contest they participated in thus far. Ukraine had been the runner-up in the contest on two occasions: in with the song "Dancing Lasha Tumbai" performed by Verka Serduchka and in with the song "Shady Lady" performed by Ani Lorak. Ukraine's least successful result had been 24th place, which they achieved during the 2017 with the song "Time" performed by O.Torvald.In 2018, Ukraine was represented by Mélovin and the song "Under the Ladder", the country ended in 17th place in the grand final with 130 points.
The Ukrainian national broadcaster, National Television Company of Ukraine, broadcasts the event within Ukraine and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. In the past, UA:PBC had alternated between both internal selections and national finals in order to select the Ukrainian entry. Between 2011 and 2014, UA:PBC had set up national finals with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Ukraine, with both the public and a panel of jury members involved in the selection. NTU withdrew from the contest for one year in due to the unstable financial and political situation caused by the War in Donbass. In 2016, NTU collaborated with the commercial broadcaster STB in order to organise a national final to select Ukraine's entry, resulting in the selection of an entry that went on to win the Eurovision Song Contest. UA:PBC's collaboration with STB continued in 2019 and is planned for 2020 and 2021.
Before Eurovision
Vidbir 2019
The Ukrainian national final was held at the Palace of Culture "KPI" in Kyiv and consisted of two semi-finals held on 9 and 16 February 2019 and a final on 23 February 2019.The expert jury that voted during the shows consisted of:
- Jamala – singer-songwriter, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 for Ukraine
- Andriy Danylko – comedian and singer, represented Ukraine in 2007 as the drag artist Verka Serduchka
- Yevhen Filatov – singer and producer, creator of group Onuka
Competing entries
| Artist | Song | Songwriter |
| Anna Maria | "My Road" | Anna Opanasiuk, Maria Opanasiuk, Ivan Rozin |
| Bahroma | "Nazavzhdy-Navsegda" | Roman Bakhariev, Oleksiy Kryvosheyev |
| Braii | "Maybe" | Oleksiy Kryvosheyev, Oksana Bryzhalova |
| Brunettes Shoot Blondes | "Houston" | Andriy Kovaliov |
| Freedom Jazz | "Cupidon" | Oleksandra Zhurba |
| Ivan Navi | "All for the Love" | Ivan Siarkevych, Yana Kovaliova, Andriy Lemishka |
| KAZKA | "Apart" | Ruslan Akhrymenko, Yevhen Matyushenko |
| Khayat | "Ever" | Andriy Khayat |
| Kira Mazur | "Dykhaty" | Olena Mazur |
| Laud | "2 dni" | Ivan Klemenko, Stanislav Chornyi |
| "Myla moya" | Illia Reznikov, Ivan Rozin | |
| Maruv | "Siren Song" | Hanna Korsun, Mikhail Busin |
| The Hypnotunez | "Hey" | Gera Louidze, Yuriy Bikbaev, Timur Akhtamov, Sergey Suzdalcev, Anton Gnatenko, Vladimir Linnyk |
| Tayanna | "Ochi" | Tetiana Reshetniak, Vitaliy Telezin |
| TseSho | "Hate" | TseSho |
| Vera Kekelia | "Wow!" | Roman Duda, Vira Kekelia |
| Yuko | "Galyna guliala" | Stanislav Koroliov, Yulia Yurina |
Shows
Semi-final 1
The first semi-final took place on 9 February 2019 in Palace of Culture KPI. The top three entries following the combination of votes from a public televote and an expert jury advanced to the final of the competition, while the remaining five entries were eliminated. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2018 Eurovision entrant Mélovin performed with the song "Z toboyu, zi mnoyu, i hodi" as a guest.Semi-final 2
The second semi-final took place on 16 February 2019 in Palace of Culture KPI. The top three entries following the combination of votes from a public televote and an expert jury advanced to the final of the competition, while the remaining five entries were eliminated. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2019 Eurovision entrant Lake Malawi performed with the song "Friend of a Friend" as a guest.Final
The final took place on 23 February 2019 in Palace of Culture KPI. 2019 Eurovision entrant of France, Bilal Hassani, performed with the song "Roi" as a guest. Also Jamala presented her new single "Solo".Controversy
During the final of the national selection, it was announced that the broadcaster had reserved the right to change the decision made by the jury and Ukrainian public. Following Maruv's win, it was reported that the broadcaster had sent her management a contract, requiring Maruv to delay all upcoming appearances and performances in Russia in order to become the Ukrainian representative. After it became clear that she would be performing in two concerts in Russia the following months, Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Culture Vyacheslav Kyrylenko stated that artists who toured in Russia or "did not recognise the territorial integrity of Ukraine" should not take part in Eurovision. She was also given 48 hours to sign the contract or be replaced. The day afterwards, Maruv revealed that the broadcaster's contract had additionally banned her from improvising on stage and communicating with any journalist without the permission of the broadcaster, and required her to fully comply with any requests from the broadcaster. If she were to not follow any of these clauses, she would be fined ₴2 million. Maruv also stated that the broadcaster would not give her any financial compensation for the competition and would not pay for the trip to Tel Aviv.On 25 February, both Maruv and the broadcaster confirmed that she would not represent Ukraine in Israel due to disputes within the contract, and that another act would be chosen. National final runner-up Freedom Jazz announced on 26 February that they had rejected the broadcaster's offer to represent Ukraine as well, with third place finisher Kazka confirming they had rejected the offer as well the following day.
It is considered controversial for Ukrainian artists to tour in Russia following the 2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine.