Suspilne announced the appointment of Olha Kovalevska as chief mentor of the contest. 8 finalists prepare for the final show on 21 February 2026.
Suspilne (UA:PBC) announced on 12 December 2025 the appointment of KOLA as chief mentor-coordinator of the National Selection final for Eurovision-2026. This is the artist's third consecutive role in the national selection format — in 2024 she was a finalist herself (5th place), in 2025 — a special judge. In 2026 — she coordinates all 8 finalists. The National Selection final runs at Kyiv's Sports Palace on 21 February 2026 in live broadcast (Suspilne's First channel, runtime 2.5 hours). 8 finalists were selected from 412 applications submitted in September-November 2025. Among the finalists — Alyosha (returning after a pause since 2022), MELOVIN, Tina Karol (as a guest contestant with the demo song Young Forces), young band Kyiv Forest, and two debutants. KOLA's work as mentor — 8 weeks of individual preparation of each contestant: vocal coaching, stage staging, song interpretation, psychological preparation. KOLA comments: 'The mentor's task is not to «select a winner», but to prepare each contestant so that on stage he/she looks not like a competitor, but like an artist speaking honestly.' The first winner of the selection will represent Ukraine at Eurovision-2026 in Basel (Switzerland) in May.
