UKRAINE’s Kalush Orchestra won the Eurovision competition after leading Britain’s Sam Ryder to stardom in a stormy public vote.
It came after they appeared in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest, where the bookmakers were tipping them to win from the start.
The band’s frontman Oleh Psiuk told the crowd of 7,500: “I beg you all, please help Ukraine, Mariupol. Help Avostal now.”
Many of them gave the band a standing ovation in front of a worldwide television audience of millions.
Meanwhile, UK Eurovision hopeful Sam Ryder took the stage with an upbeat rendition of his uplifting pop song Space Man – and finished second in the final voting.
Eurovision fans hailed Sam for “achieving the impossible” by finishing second in Turin, Italy, ending decades of embarrassment.
That was Britain’s best result since 1998, when we also finished second. We last won the competition in 1997 and have consistently finished at the bottom of the rankings over the past few years.
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