Ukraine does not agree with the decision of the European Broadcasting Union on the impossibility of the country hosting the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 due to the war. This was stated in a joint statement by the Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko, the Chairman of the Board of pubcaster NOTU/Suspilne Mykola Chernotytsky and the winners of Eurovision 2004 and 2022 - Ruslana Lyzhychko and Oleh Psiuk (Kalush Orchestra).

"Ukraine does not agree with the nature of the decision of the European Broadcasting Union, when we were confronted with the fact without discussing the possibility of other options. Ukraine believes that it has every reason to hold further negotiations and find a joint solution that will satisfy all parties," the statement said.

After winning Eurovision 2022, Ukraine has so far fulfilled all the conditions in the specified time for the process of approval of its holding in Ukraine - provided answers and guarantees on safety standards and possible venues for the competition.

"Holding Eurovision 2023 in Ukraine is a strong signal to the whole world that he supports Ukraine now. We will demand that this decision be changed, because we believe that we will be able to fulfill all the commitments we have made, as has been repeatedly emphasized by the European Language Union. That is why we demand additional negotiations on holding Eurovision-2023 in Ukraine,” the statement said.

On Friday, June 17, the EBU announced that it will be impossible to hold the contest in Ukraine. The EBU intends to offer this opportunity to second-laced Great Britain. The BBC reacted to this, noting that it will consider the organization of the contest.

However, on Saturday British PM Boris Johnson declared that ESC 2023 should be held in Ukraine.

Speaking to reporters at RAF Brize Norton after returning from an unannounced visit to Kyiv, Johnson said he believed it should be possible for the contest to go ahead there.

“The Ukrainians won the Eurovision song contest. I know we had a fantastic entry, I know we came second and I’d love it to be in this country,” he said.

“But the fact is that they won and they deserve to have it. I believe that they can have it and I believe that they should have it. I believe Kyiv or any other safe Ukrainian city would be a fantastic place to to have it.”

Ukrainian culture minister Oleksandr Tkachenko said the Ukrainian government and security services had submitted detailed plans to the EBU, and that the Ukrainian people were hurt by the decision to move the event. “Eurovision is not only several hours of television, it’s also a symbolic global event,” he said.

The organizers had given him only 20 minutes’ notice on Friday that it had decided to reject Ukraine’s proposals, he said.

Tkachenko held emergency talks with the British culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, in an effort to find a solution, with the UK government still publicly expressing hope Ukraine can host the contest, The Guardian informs.

“We have common understanding that it should be discussed one more time,” he said of his call with his UK counterpart.

UK government sources suggested that if the BBC does end up hosting the contest, it would have a strong Ukrainian theme and focus on symbolic links between the two countries. The BBC went out of its way to avoid sounding upbeat in its statement, acknowledging the offer to enter talks.

Several British cities have already expressed an interest in hosting next year’s contest, including Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester.

Tkachenko said the cities should instead show solidarity with Ukraine by pushing for the competition to be held in his country. He said “We love Britain because of the full support of the Ukrainian resistance, but until we discuss it with the EBU one more time, it is not the right time to start the discussion between cities in the UK.”

He would not go into details of Ukraine’s proposals, but it is possible they would include changes to the current Eurovision format in which thousands of people attend the event live.

“We spoke to them a few days ago presenting our vision of how we could host Eurovision in Ukraine, despite all the difficulties, but we didn’t get back any questions, either about security or anything else,” Tkachenko said.