Tvorchi of Ukraine performs “Heart of Steel” on stage during the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 final in Liverpool, England. They finished in sixth place, behind Sweden, Finland, Israel, Italy and Norway.
Picture Dominic Lipinski/Getty
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Picture Dominic Lipinski/Getty
Tvorchi of Ukraine performs “Heart of Steel” on stage during the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 final in Liverpool, England. They finished in sixth place, behind Sweden, Finland, Israel, Italy and Norway.
Picture Dominic Lipinski/Getty
As Ukrainian band Tvorchi prepared to take the stage of the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool, England, on Saturday, the band’s members learned that a Russian missile had just hit their homeland. Then another attack.
Ukrainian producer Andrii Hutsuliak and Nigerian-born singer-songwriter Jeffrey Kenny, creator of the electronic music duo Tvorchi, are based in the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil.
Ternopil city officials later confirmed that two people were injured in the attack. according to Reuters.
Tvorchi mentioned missile attack in Instagram posts before And Later their “Heart of Steel” performance.
“Ternopil is the name of our hometown, which was bombed by Russia when we sang on the Eurovision stage about our hearts of steel, our indomitableness and our will,” they wrote. “This is a message to all Ukrainian cities that are under shelling every day. …Europe, unite against evil for peace!”
Hutsuliak and Kenny wrote “Heart of Steel” last spring as they watched Ukrainian fighters defend the besieged. Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, an experience they told NPR in February.
“It’s a song about the unbreakable [no matter] no matter how bad a situation has happened in their lives, it can’t stop them,” Hutsuliak said from Ternopil via Zoom.
Russia did not say it targeted the city because of the competition.
Last year, after the Ukrainian folk rap group Kalush . Orchestra won Eurovision, reports surfaced about handwritten message about Russian rockets refers to the band’s call for aid on stage. “Kalush, as you requested! To #Azovstal,” read translate messages on one of the reported missiles.
The attacks occurred before and during the performance
Ternopil was attacked overnight by a pair on Saturday, reports The new voice of Ukraine. The missile hit an industrial warehouse, destroyed two private homes and damaged dozens of others.
Ternopil Mayor Serhiy Nadal said rocket debris also damaged commercial and civilian businesses and nine trucks and caused a warehouse fire. City officials said The two injured were hospitalized with shrapnel wounds and burns.
One of the attacks happened during Tvorchi’s Eurovision final performance, Nadal wrote on Facebook.
“Thank you for your speech which has become a symbol not only of the unification of the country but also of the whole world,” he said.
Thanks to . But these people performed minutes after their university home town was bombed by a quarter. You have a brave heart. That’s a win enough for anyone #Eurovision pic.twitter.com/pMX3xarnhJ
– Mrs. Melinda Simmons (@MelSimmonsFCDO) May 14, 2023
It shows why Ukraine is not hosting this year
Melinda Simmons, British ambassador to Ukraine, applauds the duo’s “brave hearts” in a tweetnoted that their performance came “minutes after their home university was bombed by Russia”.
“This #Eurovision night, Ukraine is suffering another Russian missile attack,” she writes. “Remind that the reason why [Ukraine] can’t hold this event because [Russia] continue to invade and the people of [Ukraine] live in constant danger.”
Ukraine won Eurovision last year, but a group of security experts and broadcasters deemed the country unfit to host this year’s contest because of the war. Great Britain, last year’s runner-up, finally hosted it in Liverpool “in the name of Ukraine.”
Sweden wins this year’s contest, and Tvorchi ranked sixth. The band came from Ukraine then wrote on Instagram that so many viewers voted for Tvorchi “shows our unity.”
