{"id":965074,"date":"2026-05-16T19:11:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T19:11:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/965074\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T19:11:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T19:11:17","slug":"eurovision-2026-ukraine-entry-ridnym-lyrics-who-is-leleka-and-odds-to-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/965074\/","title":{"rendered":"Eurovision 2026 Ukraine entry: Ridnym lyrics, who is Lel\u00e9ka, and odds to win"},"content":{"rendered":"

Singing for Ukraine in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest 2026 is Ukrainian-German folk jazz band Lel\u00e9ka.<\/p>\n

Founded by Ukrainian singer and songwriter Viktoria Lel\u00e9ka in the spring of 2016 in Berlin, Lel\u00e9ka are representing her country in the final of this year’s competition <\/a>which takes place in the Austrian city of Vienna on Saturday night (May 16).<\/p>\n

Lel\u00e9ka was selected by Ukraine\u2019s Eurovision body, Suspilne, after winning the contest known as Vidbir. Ukraine made it through the second semi-final<\/a> during the week and will be performing sixth in the final.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to get the biggest stories straight to your inbox in our Daily Newsletter<\/strong><\/p>\n

The group\u2019s lead singer, Victoria, is a singer and songwriter who graduated from the Karpenko-Karyi Theatre University in Kyiv. She initially went on to work as an actress at the Molodyi Theatre in the Ukrainian capital.<\/p>\n

Once a member of Lel\u00e9ka, Victoria continued her studies by obtaining a master’s degree in jazz composition in Dresden and studying film composition at the Babelsberg Film University. Bringing her love of film to the band, Lel\u00e9ka scored the popular series And There Will Be People.<\/p>\n

The band has been praised for fusing Ukrainian tradition, contemporary sound and a distinct authorial interpretation. The name Lel\u00e9ka means \u2018stork\u2019, with the band emphasising the importance of finding your way home.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Ukraine are heading into the event with a small chance of lifting the glass microphone trophy, with their odds of winning 50\/1 ahead of the show, according to bookies Ladbrokes.<\/p>\n

The Eurovision Song Contest 2026 final takes place on Saturday, May 16. It will be broadcast live on BBC<\/a> One and BBC iPlayer with Graham Norton hosting and commentating for UK viewers. On BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds, Sara Cox and Rylan will be leading the commentary. Coverage across the BBC will start at 8pm.<\/p>\n

The lyrics in full for Ridnym (translations in bold)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Green into rust,<\/p>\n

Trust in the change<\/p>\n

Everything fades be that as it may<\/p>\n

Red into dust<\/p>\n

Cut from the branch<\/p>\n

Leaves in the flames<\/p>\n

Nothing is safe<\/p>\n

Vyshyu, vyshyu<\/p>\n

Vyshyu novu dolyu<\/p>\n

Vyshyu, vyshyu<\/p>\n

Nayridnishym<\/p>\n

Stiching, stitching<\/strong><\/p>\n

I will stitch together a new destiny<\/strong><\/p>\n

I will stitch, I will stitch, for my kin,<\/strong><\/p>\n

My dearest ones<\/strong><\/p>\n

When we oppose our fears<\/p>\n

And turn all our woes to cheers<\/p>\n

I know the roots still carry water<\/p>\n

When all the seeds we’ve sown<\/p>\n

Blossom and lead us home<\/p>\n

We’ll see the trees grow even taller<\/p>\n

Novy dolyu vyshyu<\/p>\n

Ridnym nayridnishym<\/p>\n

I will stitch a new destiny<\/strong><\/p>\n

For my kin, my dearest ones<\/strong><\/p>\n

When we oppose our fears<\/p>\n

And turn all our woes to cheers<\/p>\n

We’ll see the trees grow even taller-o-o-o<\/p>\n

When we oppose our fears<\/p>\n

And turn all our woes to cheers<\/p>\n

I know the roots still carry water<\/p>\n

When all the seeds we’ve sown<\/p>\n

Blossom and lead us home<\/p>\n

We’ll see the trees grow even taller<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Singing for Ukraine in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest 2026 is Ukrainian-German folk jazz band Lel\u00e9ka. Founded by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":965075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7654],"tags":[2000,299,13735,382,657],"class_list":{"0":"post-965074","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ukraine","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-eurovision-song-contest","11":"tag-tv","12":"tag-ukraine"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116585844034505454","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=965074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/965075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=965074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=965074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=965074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}