Contest and political entanglement reached new heights with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The European Broadcasting Union, which hosts the competition, banned Russia from participating shortly after it invaded Ukraine. Ukraine’s victory at last year’s Eurovision, decided by a combination of jury and popular votes, was widely seen as a show of solidarity with the besieged country.
In Ukraine, which has won the highest honor three times since its first participation in Eurovision in 2003, the competition has been very popular over the years and is highly regarded as a way for the country to culturally keep in step with Europe. It is Now it is also seen as a way to keep European attention focused on the war.
As Mr. Hutslyak and Mr. Kehinde sat down for the interview at the fashionable Honey restaurant in central Kiev, they apologized for delaying their meeting by a day and explained that they had urgent business. It is to secure the documents required by men of fighting age. Leave the country so they can travel to Liverpool.
Their song “Heart of Steel” was inspired by the soldiers who held the abandoned city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine for months longer than anyone could have imagined, Huturiak said. Told. Soldiers made their last stand at the sprawling Azokhstan Ironworks.
Hutsuliak said he clearly remembers an online clip of soldiers filming the defense.
“When I watched these videos, I saw people with the strength to remain steadfast even in the most dire circumstances,” he added. I wrote a track with lyrics that seemed purposeful.
“Don’t disturb me,” sings Kehinde. “Because I have a heart of steel.”
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion last February, martial law prevented Huturiak from leaving the country, but Kehinde, a Nigerian national from Lagos, was able to do so. On the morning when Russia began bombing Ukrainian cities, his mother panicked and she called him, urging him to flee.
