The frontman of the Ukrainian winner of the Eurovision Song Contest Kalush has returned home to join the defense of his country.
Oleg Psyuk kissed his girlfriend goodbye in Turin before packing up and heading to the airport.
“Our culture is under attack. We wanted to present our music to the world last night. I wrote the Eurovision song for my mother long before the war – but then it started to take on different meanings for different people,” he said.
“I am returning home while running a volunteer organization that helps refugees with food, accommodation and medicine. I will continue to do so. We will be hosting Eurovision in a newly built and happy Ukraine.”
Italian police revealed on Sunday that pro-Russian groups have tried to hack Eurovision.
The Ukrainian Kalush Orchestra won the competition with Stephanie, a wave of public support for an emotional victory that was welcomed by President Vladimir Zelensky. In second place is the participation of Britain’s Sam Ryder.
During the vote and the performances in Turin, the Italian police cybersecurity department blocked several cyberattacks against the network infrastructure of the hacker group Killnet and its affiliate Legion.
Officials also gathered information from the pro-Russian group’s telegram channels to prevent other critical events and identify the geographical location of the attacks.
This came after Killnet said it was attacking the websites of several Italian institutions, including the Senate, the upper house of the Italian parliament and the National Institutes of Health (ISS) before hosting the concert.
Russia was expelled this year after its invasion of Ukraine, a move the organizers said aimed to keep politics out of the race, which promotes diversity and friendship between nations.
After the victory on Saturday night, Zelensky promised that the city of Mariupol, which had been wiped out by heavy bombardment by Vladimir Putin’s troops, would host the race next year.
“Our courage amazes the world”
The Ukrainian president congratulated the Kalush Orchestra on winning this year’s competition, saying “our courage amazes the world, our music conquers Europe”.
According to the rules of the competition, the winner’s country must host next year.
“Ukraine will host Eurovision next year. For the third time in its history and I believe not for the last time,” he said.
“We will do everything possible for the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, a liberated, peaceful city that has been restored, to receive guests and participants in Eurovision one day.
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