Joe Harker
Ukraine will not be hosting the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest after the war-torn nation was ruled out.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has decided that next year's competition cannot be held in Ukraine despite them winning this year's event.
Kalush Orchestra's song 'Stefania' took the top spot with 631 points as they amassed the highest amount of points ever received from the public vote.
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Hosting duties will instead fall to the runners-up, which in this case is the UK - making it the first time Britain has put on Eurovision since 1998.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy had vowed to host next year's Eurovision in the city of Mariupol but those dreams appear to have been dashed by harsh reality.
Mariupol sadly fell to Russian invaders shortly after the conclusion of this year's Eurovision.
The EBU explained its decision not to keep the competition in Ukraine, saying in a statement: "Following their win at the Eurovision Song Contest in May the EBU has been exploring options for the hosting of next year’s competition with Ukraine’s public broadcaster UA:PBC, who previously staged the event in 2017 and 2005.
"It has become a well-known tradition that the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest hosts the competition the following year, providing certain criteria including ensuring the viability of staging the event and the safety of all stakeholders, including the public, are met."
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine is ongoing and it is not clear when the conflict will end, it was deemed too unsafe to hold Eurovision in the country.
The EBU spoke of its 'deep regret' that it couldn't allow Ukraine to host the competition as there has been a deep outpouring of goodwill towards the war-torn nation as it attempts to resist Putin's brutal attacks.
The BBC responded to the awarding of Eurovision 2023 to the UK since it traditionally shows the broadcast of the song contest.
The broadcaster released a statement which read: "We have seen the announcement from the EBU. Clearly these aren’t a set of circumstances that anyone would want.
"Following their decision, we will of course discuss the BBC hosting the Eurovision Song Contest."
The UK last hosted Eurovision in 1998 in Birmingham after winning the 1997 contest.
Since then British participation in Eurovision has often been marred with low points, poor entries and on two separate occasions ending up with the dreaded 'nil points'.
Coming in second place with 466 points thanks to Sam Ryder's song 'SPACE MAN', it will once again be up to Britain to host the contest.
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