Ukraine was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Time", written by Yevhen Halych and Yevhen Kamenchuk, and performed by the band O.Torvald. The Ukrainian participating broadcaster, the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (UA:PBC), organised a national final in collaboration with commercial broadcaster STB in order to select its entry for the contest. In addition, UA:PBC was also the host broadcaster and staged the event at the International Exhibition Centre in Kyiv, after its legal predecessor, the National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU), had won the with the song "1944" by Jamala.

The national selection consisted of three semi-finals, held on 4, 11 and 18 February 2017, and a final, held on 25 February 2017; eight entries competed in each semi-final with the top two from each semi-final advancing to the final. In the final, "Time" performed by O.Torvald was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from a three-member jury panel and a public televote.

As the host country, Ukraine qualified to compete directly in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Ukraine's running order position was determined by draw. Performing in position 22 during the final, Ukraine placed twenty-fourth out of the 26 participating countries with 36 points.

Background

Prior to the 2017 contest,the National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Ukraine thirteen times since its first entry , winning the contest with the song "Wild Dances" performed by Ruslana and with the song "1944" performed by Jamala. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Ukraine had managed to qualify to final in every contest they participated in thus far. Ukraine had been the runner-up in the contest on two occasions: in with the song "Dancing Lasha Tumbai" performed by Verka Serduchka and with the song "Shady Lady" performed by Ani Lorak. Ukraine's least successful result had been 19th place, achieved , with the song "Razom nas bahato" performed by GreenJolly.

After a restructuring that led to the incorporation of NTU into the current Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (UA:PBC) on 19 January 2017, it was the latter who participated in the 2017 contest. As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, UA:PBC organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. In the past, NTU had alternated between both internal selections and national finals in order to select its entry. Between 2011 and 2014, it had set up national finals with several artists to choose both the song and performer, with both the public and a panel of jury members involved in the selection. In September 2014, NTU announced that it would not participate in the because of the unstable financial and political situation caused by the war in east Ukraine. Along with the announcement of their withdrawal, NTU revealed that it had discussed the matter with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), and that its absence would be limited to one year only with an expected return in 2016. In 2016, NTU in collaboration with the commercial broadcaster STB had set up a national final with several artists and shows to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision, with both the public and a panel of jury members involved in the selection. UA:PBC continued to collaborate with STB in 2017.

Before Eurovision Vidbir 2017

Vidbir 2017 was the second edition of Vidbir which selected the Ukrainian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. The competition took place at the Palace of Culture "KPI" in Kyiv and consisted of three semi-finals held on 4, 11 and 18 February 2017 and a final on 25 February 2017. All shows in the competition were hosted by Serhiy Prytula and broadcast on both UA:Pershyi and STB as well as online via UA:PBC's YouTube broadcasts.

Format The selection of the competing entries for the national final and ultimately the Ukrainian Eurovision entry took place over three stages. In the first stage, artists and songwriters had the opportunity to apply for the competition either through an online submission form or by attending a scheduled audition during designated dates. Applicants also had the option of entering an online wildcard selection, the winner of which was to gain direct entry into the competition's final. However, it was later announced that the winner would compete in the competition's semi-finals instead. Twenty-four acts were selected and announced on 17 January 2017. The second stage consisted of the televised semi-finals which took place on 4, 11 and 18 February 2017 with eight acts competing in each show. Two acts were selected to advance from each semi-final based on the 50/50 combination of votes from a public televote and an expert jury. Both the public televote and the expert jury assigned scores ranging from 1 (lowest) to 8 (highest) and the two entries that had the highest number of points following the combination of these scores advanced to the final. The third stage was the final, which took place on 25 February 2017 and featured the six acts that qualified from the semi-finals vying to represent Ukraine in Kyiv. The winner was selected via the 50/50 combination of votes from a public televote and an expert jury. Both the public televote and the expert jury assigned scores ranging from 1 (lowest) to 6 (highest) and the entry that had the highest number of points following the combination of these scores was declared the winner. Viewers participating in the public televote during the four live shows had the opportunity to submit a single vote per phone number for each of the participating entries via SMS or the Teleportal mobile application. In the event of a tie during the semi-finals and final, the tie was decided in favour of the entry that received the highest score from the public televote.

The jury panel that voted during the four shows consisted of:

Konstantin Meladze – Composer and producer Jamala – singer-songwriter, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 for Ukraine Andriy Danylko – comedian and singer, represented Ukraine in 2007 as the drag artist Verka Serduchka

Competing entries Artists and composers had the opportunity to submit their entries via an online submission form which accepted entries between 1 September 2016 and 15 January 2017. Interested performers could also attend auditions that were held between 6 November and 11 December 2016 in the following cities and locations: 6 November 2016: Odesa (Hotel "Marenero") 13 November 2016: Dnipro (Hotel "Dnipropetrovsk") 4 December 2016: Lviv (Hotel "Reikartz") 11 December 2016: Kyiv (STB Headquarters)

In addition to the online submission and auditions, artists and composers also had the option of submitting their entries for the wildcard selection at STB's official website which accepted entries between 1 September 2016 and 10 January 2017. The entries were then published online and users were able to cast one vote per day. Composer and producer Konstantin Meladze was assigned as the music producer of the show and was the lead in reviewing the submissions received from the online submission and auditions, of which twenty-three entries were shortlisted to compete in the national final. On 17 January 2017, the twenty-four selected competing acts, including the online wildcard winner, "Deep Shivers" performed by Kuznetsov, were announced. The twenty-four acts were allocated to one of three semi-finals during a draw that took place on 20 January, which was hosted by Konstantin Meladze.

+ Artist Song Votes Place Kuznetsov "Deep Shivers" 11,820 1 Denis Povaliy "Written On Your Heart" 10,311 2 Katya Syvun "Pryvyd" () 2,479 3 Legenda Folium "My Space" 2,199 4 One Light Inside "Stay" 1,920 5 Kseniya Popova "Let it Fall" 1,919 6 Litvinkovich "Nasha lyubov" () 1,375 7 Alex Angel and Lady Gala "Running for Love" 1,296 8 Nataliya Pylyponyuk and Dzhoan Sereso "Serenada Ukrayini" () 1,293 9 Oksana Pryimak "Za krai" () 1,077 10 Artist SongSongwriter(s) Aghiazma "Synthetic Sun"Kora Rex, Aghiazma Anastasia Prudius "Flow"Anastasia Prudius, Anton Karskiy Arsen Mirzoyan "Geraldine"Arsen Mirzoyan, Paul Manandise Detach "Distance"Oleksiy Verenchik, Evhen Astafiev Green Grey "Future Is On"Green Grey Illaria "Thank You for My Way"Ivan Rozin, Anna Rozina, Illaria Kadnay "Freedom in My Mind"Dmytro Kadnay, Pylyp Kolyadenko, Anton Karskiy Kuznetsov "Deep Shivers"Ruslan Kuznetsov Laliko "Sugar Whisper"Lali Ergemlidze Letay "Svit chekaye" ()Ilya Reznikov MamaRika "We Are One"Anastasiya Kochetova, Ivan Klymenko, Very the Jerry Mélovin "Wonder"Kostyantyn Bocharov, Mickey Mic Mila Nytych "Mystery"Yulia Hashevskaya Monochromea "Blue Bird"Kristina Hromyak O.Torvald "Time"Yevhen Halych, Yevhen Kamenchuk Panivalkova "Dokuchayu" ()Panivalkova Payushchie Trusy "Singing Pants"Volodymyr Bebeshko, Olga Stepura Roma Veremeychik and Lumiere "Make It Real"Roman Veremeychik Rozhden "Saturn"Panos Liassi, Rafael Ishman, Rozhden Anusi Salto Nazad "O, mamo!" ()Ivan Klymenko Skai "All My Love for You"Oleh Sobchuk, John Hill Tayanna "I Love You"Max Barskih, Tetiana Reshetniak Vitaly Kozlovsky "I'm Your Light"Dmytro Bananov, Maryna Skomorokhova Vivienne Mort "Iniy" (Іній)Daniela Zayushkina

Shows Semi-finals The three semi-finals took place on 4, 11 and 18 February 2017. In each semi-final eight acts competed and the top two entries determined following the combination of votes from a public televote and an expert jury advanced to the final of the competition, while the remaining six entries were eliminated.

In addition to the performances of the competing entries, guests in the first semi-final included 2017 Belarusian Eurovision entrant Naviband performing the 2017 Belarusian entry "Historyja majho žyccia" and a Belarusian version of the Eurovision 2016 winning song "1944" by Jamala, and 2017 Georgian Eurovision entrant Tamara Gachechiladze performing the 2017 Georgian entry "Keep the Faith", while 2017 Spanish Eurovision entrant Manel Navarro performed the 2017 Spanish entry "Do It for Your Lover" as a guest in the second semi-final.

+ Semi-final 1 – 4 February 2017 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place Percentage Points 1 Skai "All My Love for You" 6 9.54% 5 11 4 2 Roman Veremeychik and Lumiere "Make It Real" 2 6.30% 3 5 6 3 Monochromea "Blue Bird" 3 4.35% 2 5 7 4 Laliko "Sugar Whisper" 1 4.29% 1 2 8 5 Salto Nazad "O, mamo!" 8 11.82% 6 14 2 6 MamaRika "We Are One" 5 8.76% 4 9 5 7 Tayanna "I Love You" 7 30.05% 8 15 1 8 Arsen Mirzoyan "Geraldine" 4 24.90% 7 11 3

+ Semi-final 2 – 11 February 2017 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place Percentage Points 1 Letay "Svit chekaye" 1 5.76% 1 2 8 2 Mila Nytych "Mystery" 3 7.66% 3 6 7 3 Kuznetsov "Deep Shivers" 2 18.08% 7 9 5 4 Aghiazma "Synthetic Sun" 5 7.66% 2 7 6 5 Detach "Distance" 4 17.71% 6 10 3 6 Rozhden "Saturn" 8 11.18% 5 13 2 7 Panivalkova "Dokuchayu" 6 10.37% 4 10 4 8 Illaria "Thank You for My Way" 7 21.59% 8 15 1

+ Semi-final 3 – 18 February 2017 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place Percentage Points 1 Payushchie Trusy "Singing Pants" 2 3.48% 1 3 8 2 O.Torvald "Time" 7 19.70% 7 14 1 3 Anastasia Prudius "Flow" 3 7.71% 3 6 6 4 Vitaly Kozlovsky "I'm Your Light" 1 5.27% 2 3 7 5 Kadnay "Freedom in My Mind" 8 14.50% 5 13 3 6 Mélovin "Wonder" 5 23.84% 8 13 2 7 Green Grey "Future Is On" 4 10.15% 4 8 5 8 Vivienne Mort "Iniy" 6 15.36% 6 12 4

Final