Throughout the last week, Suspilne the Ukrainian broadcaster, conducted an online vote to determine one extra participant in their national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2026. The votes have been verified, and it is KHAYAT with ‘Hertsy’ who wins the wildcard to join the Vidbir 2026 line-up.
🇺🇦 KHAYAT advances to Vidbir 2026 Final
Overall, over 283,000 votes were cast in the online competition to select an additional wildcard to join the already confirmed finalists in Vidbir 2026. The voting period was held between January 8-13. Afterwards, it was revealed that KHAYAT with his song, ‘Hertsi’ is now through to the live final taking place on February 7. In total, 6 acts took part in the wildcard selection, with ‘Hertsy’ taking 32.41% of the total votes, amounting for almost 92,000 votes cast by Ukrainian fans.
🇺🇦 Vidbir 2026
On February 7 Ukraine will decide their representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2026. A total of 10 acts will take part in Vidbir 2026, with all the remaining songs for the finalists to be released tomorrow. The winner will be determined by a combination of televoting and jury voting. The jury members will be chosen through online voting. Below is a reminder of the competing acts and their song titles:
- Jerry Heil – ‘CATHARTICUS’
- LAUD – ‘Lightkeeper’
- LELÉKA – ‘Рідним’
- MOLODI – ‘THE LEGENDS’
- Monokate – ‘Ти тут’
- Mr. Vel – ‘Do Or Done’
- The Elliens – ‘Crawling Whispers’
- Valeriya Force – ‘Open Our Hearts’
- ЩукаРиба – ‘Моя земля’
- KHAYAT – ‘Hertsy’
Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest
Vidbir was first used to select the country’s song and artist in 2016, which saw Jamala win in Stockholm, Sweden with ‘1944‘. Since their debut in 2003, Ukraine has qualified every year for the grand final, being the only country to have done so and has won the contest on three occasions. In their second year of participation, Ukraine took their maiden victory with Ruslana and the crowd pleasing, tribal anthem, ‘Wild Dances‘.
In 2022 Ukraine achieved their third victory for Kalush Orchestra and ‘Stefania‘. Last year it was the turn of Ziferblat to represent the nation with their entry, ‘Bird of Pray’. During the Basel final, the band finished 9th with 218 points.
Who should win Vidbir 2026? Let us know! Keep track of the latest news by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter, @escxtra.bsky.social on Bluesky, @escxtra on Instagram, @escxtra on TikTok, subscribing to YouTube and liking our Facebook page! Also, follow us on Spotify for the latest music from your favourite Eurovision acts.
