Prior to the 2017 Contest, Ukraine had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest thirteen times since its first entry in. The nation had won the contest on two occasions: in with the song "Wild Dances" performed by Ruslana and in with the song "1944" performed by Jamala. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the, Ukraine had managed to qualify to the 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 in with the song "Shady Lady" performed by Ani Lorak. Ukraine's least successful result had been 24th place, which they achieved during the 2017 with the song "Time" performed by O.Torvald. The Ukrainian national broadcaster, National Television Company of Ukraine, broadcasts the event within Ukraine and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. In the past, NTU had alternated between both internal selections and national finals iorder to select the Ukrainian entry. Between 2011 and 2014, NTU had set up national finals with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Ukraine, with both the public and a panel of jury members involved in the selection. NTU withdrew from the contest for one year in due to the unstable financial and political situation caused by the conflict in east Ukraine. In 2016, NTU collaborated with the commercial broadcaster STB in order to organise a national final to select Ukraine's entry, resulting in the selection of an entry that went on to win the Eurovision Song Contest. NTU's collaboration with STB continued in 2018.
Before Eurovision
National final
The Ukrainian national final was held at the Palace of Culture "KPI" in Kyiv and consisted of two semi-finals held on 10 and 17 February 2018 and a final on 24 February 2018. The expert jury that voted during the shows consisted of:
Andriy Danylko – comedian and singer, represented Ukraine in 2007 as the drag artist Verka Serduchka
Yevhen Filatov – singer and producer, creator of group Onuka
Competing entries
Shows
Semi-final 1
The first semi-final took place on 10 February 2018 in Palace of Culture KPI. The top three entries 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, 2018 Czech Eurovision entrant Mikolas Josef performed the 2018 Czech entry "Lie to Me" as a guest.
Semi-final 2
The second semi-final take place on 17 February 2018 in Palace of Culture KPI. The top three entries following the combination of votes from a public televote and an expert jury will advance to the final of the competition, while the remaining six entries will be eliminated. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2018 French Eurovision entrant Madame Monsieur will perform the 2018 French entry "Mercy" as a guest.
Final
At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 29 January 2018, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Ukraine was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 10 May 2018, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show. Once all the competing songs for the 2018 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Ukraine was set to perform in position 18, following the entry from Slovenia.
Semi-final
Points awarded to Ukraine
Final
Split voting results
The following five members comprised the Ukrainian jury:
