Due to the current events and war within Ukraine, Eurovision fans have begun to wonder if the country would be able to participate in Eurovision this coming May. Concerns increased greatly when it was announced that the members of the band had joined the war effort as lead singer Oleh Psiuk created a 20 person volunteer group to distribute medicine and exacute civilians from war-stricken areas. Another band member is currently station in the territorial defence unit. Because of this, fans began to worry about not only the band’s participation, but also their physical safety.
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While we cannot ensure the latter, we can confirm that Ukraine will compete in Eurovision 2022 despite current events. Following yesterday’s Head of Delegation meeting RAI executive producer stated that: “[The] Ukrainian delegation has already delivered the necessary material, respecting the deadlines, which is absolutely admirable given the situation. Furthermore, they will try to make the live on tape video, which won’t be filmed in Kyiv but in a city closer to the Polish border. Live on tape videos must be made by all artists, which will be used if they cannot participate.”
If they were unable to attend in person this would not be the first time a live on tape had to be used on the Eurovision stage. Australian representative Montaigne was forced to complete virtually due to the travel restrictions in Australia, while Iceland had to use rehearsal footage for their Grand Final performance due to a COVID exposure.
The live on tapes
This information confirms that live on tapes will be required of all delegations as we reported back in November of 2021. The purpose of these tapes is to ensure that artists are still allowed to compete if they enter COVID quarantine during the week of the show OR if another COVID variant were to cancel the contest once again – an option the EBU will avoid at all costs. In the coming weeks it is likely that we will start to see delegations coming together to film their tapes in the same locations, as they did last year. For last years contest Moldova, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, and Bulgaria all filmed in Sofia, neighbors North Macedonia and Serbia filmed in Belgrade, and Germany and Lithuania shared a recording space in Vilnius.
Also worth noting that today marks the first say of building the Eurovision stage in the PalaOlimpico arena, and it is currently unknown how long the construction will take. The overall preparations for the contest are said to require a crew of over 3,500 people.
Are #YOU thankful that Ukraine will compete in Eurovision 2022? Let us know on social media @ESCUnited, on our discord, or on our forum page!
