KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s Eurovision Song Contest winners plan a tour of Europe to raise money for the army as it continues to put up fierce resistance to Russian forces more than 80 days after they invaded the country, they said on Tuesday.
Kalush Orchestra on Saturday rode a wave of popular support to win the competition, giving their compatriots a much-needed morale boost.
Frontman Oleh Psiuk told a televised news conference in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv that the band would soon announce on Instagram where it would tour.
“At every performance we are going to collect funds for the needs of the army,” he said.
Psiuk said he hoped Ukraine would host Eurovision next year and thanked the defenders of the besieged Azovstal steel works in the southern city of Mariupol for their courage in holding out for so long.
Fighters in the last stronghold in Mariupol have started to surrender, but a Ukrainian presidential adviser said their defiance had changed the course of the war.
Bookmakers had made Kalush Orchestra clear favourites in Eurovision. Their song “Stefania” that fuses rap with traditional folk music was lying fourth after national juries voted, but stormed into top spot thanks to a record score during voting by viewers.
(Reporting by Natalia Zinets,; Writing by Alexander Winning, editing by Ed Osmond)