Ukraine has announced its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2025. During the national final, Vidbir 2025, which took place on February 8, 2025, in Kyiv, the band Ziferblat was chosen to represent the country with the song “Bird of Pray.”
Vidbir, which means “selection” in Ukrainian, is the national competition organized by the Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne to determine the Eurovision entry. This year marked the ninth edition of Vidbir. From a longlist of twenty artists, nine finalists were selected to compete in the final. The winner was determined by a combination of public votes and a professional jury.
The jury consisted of three members who were chosen by the public through an online vote, with a total of 442,374 votes cast. The final jury members were Jamala (34% of the votes), Serhiy Tanchynets (20%), and Kateryna Pavlenko (12%).
Ziferblat, composed of brothers Valentyn and Danylo Leshchynskyi and their friend Fedir Khodakov, co-wrote the song “Bird of Pray.” With their unique blend of electronic and traditional sounds, they hope to impress the European audience at the Eurovision Song Contest, which this year takes place in Basel, Switzerland.
Ukraine has a strong reputation at Eurovision, having won three times in 2004, 2016, and 2022. The country has consistently qualified for the final and aims to continue this success with its latest entry.