UKRAINE’s National Broadcaster says the country will not participate in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest after several potential Ukrainian contestants refused amid a political spat.

The broadcaster tried to get the winner of the domestic selection contest, singer Hanna Korsun, who goes by the stage name Maruv, to sign a contract stipulating that she would not perform in neighbouring Russia she refused.

By Wednesday, the three runners-up in the selection contest, Freedom Jazz Girls Band, Kazka Band and Brunettes Shoot Blondes, had also refused to perform at the international Eurovision contest in Israel in May.

Relations between Ukraine and Russia have plummeted to an all-time low in recent years amid a conflict in eastern Ukraine, near the Russian border, that has claimed the lives of about 13,000 people, according to UN estimates. (dpa/NAN)

– Feb. 27, 2019 @ 18:19 GMT |