UK hosting Eurovision for Ukraine is special moment of unity, say refugees
Ukraine’s Eurovision entry this year was written during the fall of Mariupol.
Electronic duo Tvorchi will be performing the song, Heart of Steel, in the final on Saturday.
The group told Sky News that performing it in Liverpool – despite winning last year, Ukraine is unable to host the event for obvious reasons – feels bittersweet.
“We would be happier if this could happen in Ukraine, and we didn’t experience the war and full-scale invasion,” said Andrii Hutsuliak.
“But we want to say a huge thanks to the UK for hosting it and all the support we received, it means a lot to us.”
Getting to Liverpool meant succeeding in their national competition last year in Ukraine.
The event took place in a converted underground station in the capital Kyiv.
The group won a contest held in a Kyiv underground station
It was being used as a bomb shelter but was transformed into a TV studio and stage for the night and was live-streamed as 10 acts performed for a spot in Liverpool.
The UK stepping in to host this year’s competition on their behalf means a lot to the refugees in the North West who have sought sanctuary there over the past year.
Anastasiia Spivak, 23, came to the UK six months ago to live with a host family.
Anastasiia says she feels ‘warm in my heart’ because of all support
Sky News met her as she was fundraising for Ukraine outside the concert venue, draped in the blue and yellow flag.
“I love seeing the Ukrainian signs, Ukrainian flag and colours everywhere I go. I really feel so warm in my heart because everyone here is really supporting our culture in many different ways,” she said.
Tetiana Naimanova, 28, is with her also raising awareness about the conflict in Ukraine.
She said: “We are so grateful to Liverpool and the UK for having us here and hosting on behalf of Ukraine.
“This is really the unity of two countries, two cultures and having all people around the world, around Europe coming here and discovering Ukraine is so special.”
Read more:
All you need to know about the Eurovision in Liverpool
MP seeks assurances voting will be protected from Russian threats
Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts
They are both excited and proud that the Eurovision Song Contest is honouring Ukraine. It feels poignant to them both and much needed, as Tetiana explained.
“It’s really important for us to have this moment in the middle of what’s going on to find this opportunity to celebrate and to be together and to remind people that the war is still going on but we have to support each other.
“We have to do whatever we can to support Ukraine and we’re really happy that we have the opportunities here to get that support.”
Liverpool will have love and support in abundance come Saturday when they throw a party Ukraine wishes it could, and one day they hope will be able to again.
Entertainment
Rageh Omaar says he was ‘determined to finish presenting programme’ after becoming unwell live on air
Entertainment
Om Fahad: Iraqi social media influencer shot dead by gunman on motorbike who posed as food delivery rider – report
A well-known Iraqi social media influencer has reportedly been shot dead in her car by a gunman on a motorbike.
Om Fahad, whose real name is Ghufran Sawadi, was killed outside her home in Baghdad’s Zayouna district on Friday, according to the AFP news agency, citing security officials.
It appears the unidentified attacker pretended to be delivering food to the victim, one security source said.
Om Fahad, who has nearly half a million TikTok followers, became famous for posting light-hearted videos where she dances to Iraqi music.
Six days ago, she shared footage of herself driving in a car and also posing in front of a mirror. They have each been watched hundreds of thousands of times.
The influencer was sentenced to six months in prison in February last year for sharing videos that a court ruled contained “indecent speech that undermines modesty and public morality”.
A campaign was launched in 2023 by the Iraqi government to clamp down on social media content which broke the country’s “morals and traditions”.
The interior ministry set up a committee to look for “offensive” clips on platforms such as TikTok and YouTube, with several influencers being arrested.
“This type of content is no less dangerous than organised crime,” the ministry declared in a promotional video which asked the public to help by reporting such content.
“It is one of the causes of the destruction of the Iraqi family and society.”
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Speaking last year, interior ministry spokesman Saad Maan argued the morality campaign has “nothing to do with freedom of expression”.
Read more:
Injuries after explosion at Iraq military base
UK soldiers ‘exposed’ to toxic chemical in Iraq must get answers
In 2018, gunmen in Baghdad shot dead Tara Fares, who was a model and influencer.
After years of war and sectarian conflict following the 2003 US invasion that overthrew dictator Saddam Hussein, Iraq has returned to some semblance of normality despite sporadic violence, political instability and corruption.
But civil liberties, particularly among women and sexual minorities, are still constrained in a conservative and male-dominated society.
R Kelly’s challenge against a 20-year sentence for child sex convictions has been quashed by an appeals court.
The singer was correctly sentenced to 20 years in prison, a Chicago court ruled on Friday.
He was convicted in 2022 on three charges of producing child sexual abuse images and three charges of enticement of minors for sex.
In his appeal, Kelly, 57, argued Illinois’ old statute of limitations – which required prosecution of child sex crime charges within 10 years – should have applied, rather than the current law permitting charges while an accuser is still alive.
The appeals court rejected this, labelling it an attempt by Kelly to elude the charges entirely after “employing a complex scheme to keep victims quiet”.
He also argued that charges involving one accuser should have been tried separately from the charges tied to three other accusers due to video evidence that became a focal point of the Chicago trial.
Prosecutors have said the video showed Kelly abusing a girl. The accuser, only identified as Jane, testified for the first time that she was 14 when the video was taken.
The three-judge panel from the appeals court noted jurors acquitted Kelly on seven of the 13 counts against him “even after viewing those abhorrent tapes”.
Read more on Sky News:
Newsreader ‘receiving medical care’ after on-screen behaviour worries fans
Actress Emma Stone says she ‘would like to be’ called by her real name
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
In a written statement, Kelly’s attorney Jennifer Bonjean said they plan to seek a US Supreme Court review of the decision and “pursue all of his appellate remedies until we free R Kelly”.
“We are disappointed in the ruling, but our fight is far from over,” she said.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Environment11 months agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports6 months agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Environment1 year agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Technology3 years ago
Game consoles were once banned in China. Now Chinese developers want a slice of the $49 billion pie
-
Politics2 years ago
Have the last few wobbly weeks seen a turning point for Johnson as PM?