Liverpool Celebrates Eurovision with Ukrainian Flags and Music in Honor of Last Year’s Winner

Meanwhile, the city is slowly filling up with Eurovision fans, who will visit one of the nine shows this week, the most important of which will be televised on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday evenings.

The event is also visited by 3,000 Ukrainian war refugees who fled to the United Kingdom last year. Thanks to a subsidy from the British government, they can visit one of the Eurovision shows.

Ukrainian Maria Romanenko fled Kyiv to the UK with her British husband at the start of the war and is organizing tours for compatriots who are in the city this week. “It’s an opportunity for Ukrainians to come together. I hope to put a smile on their faces again, relax for a while.”

She does have mixed feelings about the event: “This Eurovision is painful proof that the Russian invasion is still going on and it’s great what Liverpool are organizing to represent our country. But somehow I’m afraid that people in Europe are slowly forgetting us .”

Maria’s first tour was yesterday for about a hundred people:

Romanenko himself also has a ticket. “The Eurovision Song Contest is huge in Ukraine, especially because we are quite nationalistic. Last year you even saw videos of soldiers at the front watching the final on their phone.”

The shows this week should be a mix of “two musical cultures”, says the Eurovision organization. There are Ukrainian bands on stage, but there is also room for Liverpool’s rich musical past. In any case, the final will feature music from the Beatles, the band that made Liverpool the pop capital of the world for a long time.

The mix is ​​also reflected in the presenters. For example, Graham Norton, the well-known British Eurovision commentator, will present the final of the song event, together with Ukrainian singer Julia Sanina, among others. Ukrainian Timur Miroshnychenko has also transferred to Liverpool. He commented on the Eurovision Song Contest from a shelter last year.

The decor also contains references to last year’s winner. That’s how you do it podium presenting a “big hug” of a puppet opening arms to Ukraine.

Romanenko is touched by the messages of support for her homeland. “They didn’t have to do this, but they do. I’m really grateful to Liverpool and the organization for that.” And even though Romanenko has been in the UK for a year and her husband is British, she is cheering for Ukraine on Saturday night.