Kyiv residents pleased with Ukraine's Eurovision Song Contest win

Residents of Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, celebrated their country winning the Eurovision song contest on Sunday morning. Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra won the contest, a clear show of popular support for the group's war-ravaged nation that went beyond music. The band and its song "Stefania" beat 24 other performers early on Sunday in the grand final of the competition. The public vote from home, via text message or the Eurovision app, proved decisive, lifting them above British Tik Tok star Sam Ryder, who led after the national juries in 40 countries cast their votes.

"I listened to this song in Mariupol when we were being bombed so I was sure that they (the Kalush Orchestra) will win," one evacuee from Mariupol said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also welcomed the victory, Ukraine's third since its 2003 Eurovision debut, and said "we will do our best" to host next year's contest in the hotly contested port city of Mariupol. He underlined "Ukrainian Mariupol," adding: "free, peaceful, rebuilt!"

Kalush Orchestra's front man, Oleh Psiuk, took advantage of the enormous global audience, last year numbering more than 180 million, to make impassioned plea to free fighters still trapped beneath a sprawling steel plant in Mariupol following their performance.

"Help Azovstal, right now,″ Psiuk implored from beneath a bright bucket hat that has become the band's trademark among fans. He later told a news conference that people can help by "spreading information, talking out this, reaching out to governments to help."