Ukraine just picked its Vienna weapon: LELÉKA wins Vidbir 2026
Ukraine’s long, nerve-sanding trek to Vidbir 2026 wrapped up on 7 February with the kind of result that feels both inevitable and still slightly unreal when it flashes on screen: LELÉKA is officially heading to Vienna with “Ridnym”, after a final decided by that classic Ukrainian cocktail of 50% jury and 50% public vote.
The night, the mood, the “please don’t mess this up” energy
Hosted by the familiar duo of Timur Miroshnychenko and Lesia Nikitiuk, the show did what Vidbir always does: it looked sleek, it moved fast, and it still managed to feel like the country was collectively holding its breath between songs.
And because Ukraine understands the assignment, the interval line-up was basically a Eurovision family reunion with a guest pass: Ziferblat opened the show with “Bird of Pray”, Zlata Ognevich teamed up with TVORCHI, Jamala returned with “1944” backed by the Ukrainian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Moldova’s Satoshi popped in with “Viva, Moldova!” like it was the most normal thing in the world.
Running order
Ten acts lined up, one after another, like a queue for destiny (and mild online arguments). The performance order was:
Valeriya Force – “Open Our Hearts”,
MOLODI – “The Legends”,
Monokate – “TYT”,
The Elliens – “Crawling Whispers”,
LAUD – “Lightkeeper”,
LELÉKA – “Ridnym”,
Mr. Vel – “Do or Done”,
KHAYAT – “Hertsi”,
Jerri Heil – “Catharticus”,
ShchukaRyba – “Moya Zeml”.
The jury: five people, infinite power
If you wanted the “who’s steering the ship?” moment, it was the jury reveal: Ruslana, Zlata Ognevich, Yevhen Filatov, Vitaliy Drozdov, and Kostiantyn Tomilchenko. No gimmicks, no chaos-for-the-sake-of-chaos, just a panel that screams “we have opinions and we brought spreadsheets.”
On the night, the jury scoreboard landed like this:
LELÉKA 10,
LAUD 9,
Jerri Heil 8,
Mr. Vel 7,
Monokate 6,
KHAYAT 5,
Valeriya Force 4,
ShchukaRyba 3,
MOLODI 2,
The Elliens 1.
And then the public did what the public does: show up, choose favourites, and politely ignore everyone’s “industry logic”. The televote points went:
LELÉKA 10,
LAUD 9,
Jerri Heil 8,
KHAYAT 7,
Mr. Vel 6,
The Elliens 5,
MOLODI 4,
Monokate 3,
Valeriya Force 2,
ShchukaRyba 1.
Final ranking
When you combine the two halves of the machine, the final table reads:
LELÉKA – 20,
LAUD – 18,
Jerri Heil – 16,
Mr. Vel – 13,
KHAYAT – 12,
Monokate – 9,
then a three-way traffic jam on 6 for Valeriya Force, MOLODI, and The Elliens, with ShchukaRyba – 4.
So what now?
Ukraine’s baton passes from Ziferblat (a very respectable 9th in Basel with “Bird of Pray”) to LELÉKA, and if history tells us anything, it’s that Ukraine doesn’t turn up to Eurovision to “take part”. It turns up to compete, and it usually does it with something that feels both current and culturally rooted at the same time.
Vienna, you’ve been warned.
