Ukraine war latest: Russians pushed back far out of Kharkiv

Authored by bbc.co.uk and submitted by Morning_Throbber

This year's Eurovision is surely the most political in a long time.

Russia has been banned. Ukraine is the runaway favourite to win, buoyed by a general sense of solidarity around the rest of the continent.

But this year’s event is political for other reasons too. The Kalush Orchestra, the act which will represent Ukraine tonight, was not the country’s original choice.

That was Alina Pash, a 29-year-old rapper and former reality show contestant.

But when it was alleged she had visited occupied Crimea, she was dropped amid public outcry.

Kalush Orchestra, a folk rap group from Western Ukraine, got their chance instead.

Dressed in traditional outfits and drawing on the country’s long but repressed musical traditions, they are an implicit rebuke to the suggestion, oft repeated by Vladimir Putin, that Ukraine is not a real country - but merely a "little Russia", a region that needs reintegration.

Tonight, when the Kalash Orchestra take to the stage, they will be representing a nation that is increasingly confident in itself.

And therein lies the irony, some would say strategic blunder, at the heart of president Putin’s invasion.

A war predicated on the idea that this country had no national identity, no foundational myths, no national heroes, no will to resist, is what's uniting Ukraine more with every passing day.

Kingeli889 on May 14th, 2022 at 15:20 UTC »

Will the Ukrainian army ever retake Mariupol from Russia pushing them back from that territory as well like they did in Kharkiv? liberating Ukrainians held captive there

YNot1989 on May 14th, 2022 at 13:58 UTC »

"Make peace you fools!" - Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt when asked what to do after the success of D-Day.

RamsHead91 on May 14th, 2022 at 11:47 UTC »

Now they will have to be careful as the fleeing War criminals booby trap everything including pianos.