TV contest host will broadcast from bunker

Plaster peels off the walls, a single bulb dangles from the ceiling and at night the temperature can sink precipitously.

The bomb shelter in which Ukraine's Eurovision commentator will work from Saturday night is a dank, gloomy space that is worlds away from the singing contest's glittering stage in Turin.

But the chance of Russian artillery thundering across Kyiv once more makes the bunker necessary.

“We have to be underground because you never know,” Timur Miroshnychenko said. “You don't have a schedule of air raid alerts.”

Since 2007, Miroshnychenko has hosted every Eurovision contest for Ukrainian television. Each country with an entrant uses a television host at home.

But it wasn't a given he would return this year.

The 36-year-old began the war as a driver, delivering aid and transporting refugees across the border. In March, he co-organized a “Save Ukraine” rally in Warsaw. When he returned to Kyiv after Russian forces withdrew, he relaunched his morning TV show, which focuses on the war but with a “lighter tone” than the news.

On Saturday, he will be rooting for Kalush Orchestra, the Ukrainian entrants, to claim the top prize in the final.

Eurovision was founded in 1956 as a lighthearted show intended to help unify a continent battered by war.

That history resonates today, Miroshnychenko says.

“Maybe now is the most important contest in the history of Eurovision. To unite everyone. It's very important.”

Kalush Orchestra's mix of rap with traditional Ukrainian music could win the country its third trophy in 17 appearances.

Their song, Stefania, is a tribute to singer Oleh Psiuk's mother, and sung in Ukrainian.

“Mother, sing me the lullaby ... You can't take willpower from me as I got it from her ...” go the translated lyrics. “I'll always find my way home / Even if all roads are destroyed.”

Kalush was a last-minute stand-in, called up two days before the war started because the country's initial choice, Alina Pash, was withdrawn over a controversial visit to Russia-controlled Crimea in 2015.

Ukraine, Miroshnychenko feels, will take home the coveted Glass Microphone. But with Russian forces beaten back from Kyiv and moving slowly through the Donbas, he sees bigger prizes ahead.

“Everyone in Ukraine wants victory (tonight),” he said. “And it's going to be the first victory before the main victory we are all waiting for.”

Ukrainians can't vote for Kalush under competition rules, but they will support the countries that have supported them in the war.

“We now see our real friends, our real brothers, and it's definitely not the Russians.”