Ukraine doesn't agree with European Broadcasting Union's decision not to hold Eurovision 2023 in Ukraine, demands it be changed - minister

MOSCOW. June 17 (Interfax) - Ukraine does not agree with the European Broadcasting Union's decision on the impossibility of holding the Eurovision 2023 international song contest in Ukraine, Ukrainian Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko said.

"In response to the published statement of the European Broadcasting Union on the impossibility of hosting Eurovision 2023 in Ukraine, we want to emphasize the following. Ukraine does not agree with the nature of this decision, as we were faced with the fact without discussing the possibilities of other options. And the country believes that it has every reason to hold further talks and reach a joint solution that would satisfy all parties," Tkanchenko is quoted from a post on social media on Friday by the Ukrainian media.

The minister emphasized that Ukraine honestly won Eurovision 2022 and met all the conditions within the specified timeframe regarding the process of coordinating its holding in Ukraine, in particular, provided answers and guarantees for security standards and possible venues of the contest.

"Holding Eurovision 2023 in Ukraine is a strong message to the world that it backs Ukraine now. We will demand changing this decision because we believe that we will be able to comply with all the commitments that we have assumed, which has been noted repeatedly to the European Broadcasting Union. Therefore, we demand additional talks on hosting Eurovision 2023 in Ukraine," Tkachenko said.