Ukrainian group Kalush Orchestra. Archival photoROME, May 15. The winner of the Eurovision 2022 music contest, which ended on Sunday night in Turin, Italy, was the Ukrainian group Kalush Orchestra with the song Stefania. The live broadcast of the summing up of the festival was conducted by the Rai1 TV channel. According to the total results of the audience voting and the jury, the representatives of Ukraine received 631 points, becoming the winners by a wide margin from the closest pursuer — Great Britain, which received 466 votes. The musicians won the victory thanks to the votes of the audience of the competition, making a breakthrough from fourth place after the first phase of summarizing the results. The musical jury gave preference to British musician Sam Ryder. The Kalush Orchestra, which performed at the intersection of hip-hop and folk, was considered the undisputed favorite of the competition. The song Stefania is dedicated to the mother of the leader of the group and all Ukrainian mothers. After the performance of the composition, the frontman of the group made an appeal in English to support Ukraine. In connection with the rules of the contest, according to which political calls from the stage are prohibited, the organizers of Eurovision had to comment on the situation with this statement: the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) described it as «rather a humanitarian gesture than a political one.» Ukrainian musicians competed with performers from 25 countries. By tradition, the next competition must be held in the country represented by the group that won the current one.
