The winner of the National selection for Eurovision 2026 was the singer LELEKA - the stage name of Victoria Kornikova (Leleki). The artist will represent Ukraine in Vienna with the song Ridnym, receiving the highest scores from both the jury and the audience.

LELEKA is the stage name of the Ukrainian singer, composer and arranger Victoria Kornikova. She was born on November 10, 1990 in the city of Shakhterskoye, Dnepropetrovsk region. Since childhood, she was fond of music and theater, and her parents supported her creative searches.

She received her education at the Kiev National University of Theater, Film and Television named after Karpenko-Kary, where she studied at the acting department. During her studies, she worked at the Young Theater, where she combined stage acting with vocals..

Subsequently, Kornikova moved to Germany, where she continued her musical education.. She studied at the Carl-Maria von Weber Hochschule Dresden, receiving a BA in jazz vocals and a MA in composition..

She also mastered film composition, which later allowed her to work on soundtracks for films and TV series.. Her famous work in Ukrainian cinema was the soundtracks for the series “And There Will Be People” - “Zozulya” and “Pizno”. In 2016, in Berlin, the singer founded the ethno-jazz group LELEKA together with German musicians. The project arose as a way to remain useful to Ukraine while abroad - through charity concerts, cultural initiatives and popularization of Ukrainian music.

Over the years, the group has released five albums, performed at leading festivals and toured in Germany, France, Poland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Belgium, Sweden and Switzerland.

In addition to working with the group, the artist is developing a solo art project DONBA? GRL, which experiments with electronic sounds and pop aesthetics. This direction has become an additional space for creative search.

Despite the close creative connection with the Motherland, LELEKA openly talks about the difficulty of returning. In an interview with Marichka Padalko, the artist explained that her only source of income is concerts, and her entire professional network is built in Germany. " All my professional connections are in Germany. If I want to move to Ukraine, I can only live here if I go to some kind of job. To provide yourself with music here, you need to develop connections. I have no real opportunity to come and continue to live music. And this is also an internal duty for me, because I cannot afford to just quit music. This is my calling,” she emphasized..

The singer also commented on criticism on social networks, where she is reproached that living abroad allegedly deprives her of the right to represent Ukraine: “I understand that internally this is such an open wound. I don't want to say that people are tired, nervous. We are all reacting very aggressively.. This is an appropriate reaction"

In an interview with the project “Sounds! " “I always really want to go to Ukraine, but the people in my group are not Ukrainians - they don’t have this motivation. And it really confuses me. It’s like I’m standing at a crossroads,” she explained.

The artist added that the musicians are involved in many other projects, so it is not easy for her to organize performances in Ukraine - last year she managed to hold concerts in only three cities.

At the same time, she notes that LELEKA is, first of all, her personal realization and a way to present Ukrainian folklore in the world.

" But at the same time, I feel the value of LELEKA, because we created our own sound, which is based on what Ukraine created in previous centuries,” said LELEKA.

The composition Ridnym was born at the beginning of 2022 in Berlin amid mass protests of Ukrainians and foreigners against Russian aggression. According to the artist, the song is dedicated to the connection with family and inner strength, which helps to keep even at a distance.

She submitted her application for the National Selection spontaneously, and the song was compiled from musical sketches.

The performance featured a minimalistic production and an emphasis on vocals.. Jury member Konstantin Tomilchenko assessed the artist’s performance this way: “Sometimes you only need one artist and one camera to make a masterpiece. When you see it on TV, it's about frankness."

Based on the voting results, the jury gave LELEKA the maximum 10 points. She received the same rating from the audience, which ensured a confident victory.