Eurovision ‘could have been great moment for Zelensky to address huge audience’

The Ukrainian ambassador to the UK, Vadym Prystaiko, has said the final of Eurovision would have been a “great moment” for Volodymyr Zelensky to address a huge audience but he understood the reasons for blocking him.Mr Prystaiko spoke as he visited a primary school in Liverpool to see what children had been learning about Ukrainian culture, ahead of the city hosting the song contest on behalf of the war-torn country.Talking about the decision of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to block Ukraine’s president from speaking at Saturday’s final, he said: “We believe that each and every moment when we have this huge audience of people supporting, that’s the moment when we can remind why, actually, we’re having this great celebration here and that was his point.“We understand all the internal politics and the unbiased sort of approach to all this, that’s why we don’t have to push too much, but it was a great moment when the president (could) address all these people and remind them this is actually why we’re fighting.“We also want to have this normal celebration and normal life as people are having here.”PA