After a marathon run the final of Vidbir 2026 has concluded with LELÉKA winning the right to represent Ukraine at the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna.
A mammoth show
This year’s edition of the contest was hosted by Timur Miroshnychenko and Lesya Nikityuk. Ziferblat opened the show with a softer rendition of their 2025 Eurovision entry ‘Bird of Pray’. Interval acts consisted of a Junior Eurovision segment featuring Sofiia Nersesyan, Artem Kotenko, and Anastasia Dymyd; Ukrainian former Eurovision entrants Zlata Ognevich, Tvorchi, and Jamala; as well as Moldova’s entrant Satoshi.
Ahead of this year’s show our team member Tetiana got the chance to speak to several of this year’s acts. You can check out her work via our tiktok and Youtube. Our team gave their thoughts on what they thought of this year’s final.
LELÉKA wins Vidbir 2026
| Running Order | Artist | Entry (Translation) | Result |
| 1 | Valeriya Force | “Open Our Hearts“ | 9th |
| 2 | MOLODI | “Legends“ | 8th |
| 3 | Monokate | “TYT” (Here) | 6th |
| 4 | The Elliens | “Crawling Whispers” | 7th |
| 5 | LAUD | “Lightkeeper“ | 2nd |
| 6 | LELÉKA | “Ridnym“ (To Relatives) | 1st |
| 7 | Mr. Vel | “Do or Done“ | 3rd |
| 8 | KHAYAT | “Hertsy“ | 4th |
| 9 | Jerry Heil | “Catharticus (Prayer)“ | 5th |
| 10 | ShchukaRyba | “Moia Zemlia“ (My Land) | 10th |
Detailed voting breakdown
The jury consisted of Ruslana, Zlata Ognevich, Yevhen Filatov, Vitaliy Drozdov, and Konstantin Tomilchenko.
| Artist | Televote Score | Jury Points | Total |
| Valeriya Force | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| MOLODI | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| Monokate | 3 | 6 | 9 |
| The Elliens | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| LAUD | 9 | 9 | 18 |
| LELÉKA | 10 | 10 | 20 |
| Mr. Vel | 6 | 7 | 13 |
| KHAYAT | 7 | 5 | 12 |
| Jerry Heil | 8 | 8 | 16 |
| ShchukaRyba | 1 | 3 | 4 |
What is Vidbir?
Informally known as “Vidbir”, Ukraine’s national selection has been around since 2016, when it picked a Eurovision winner–Jamala’s “1944”–right off the bat. It’s a small selection with generally between six to ten entries competing each year, and is traditionally held in February. Vidbir features a three-person jury panel, and this year an online vote as well.
Ukraine’s Eurovision Journey
Ukraine is one of the most successful countries to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. The country has scored nine top-five placements, with an extra four top-ten finishes. Ukraine won the Contest three times – in 2004, 2016 and 2022 respectively. Ukraine made history for being the first ex-Soviet country to win the Contest more than once.
In 2025, Ziferblat represented Ukraine in Basel with their song “Bird of Pray”. The band finished in 9th place, scoring 218 points – of which 60 points came from the jury, whilst the remaining 158 points came from the televote.
Are you happy with LELÉKA winning? What did you think of this year’s show? As always, please let us know what you think by getting involved in the comments below. Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Threads, tumblr, and Bluesky for more information about Eurovision 2026!
Source: Suspilne
Photo credit: Tetiana / That Eurovision Site
Michelle 
Giwrgos Oiko