Ukraine and Croatia at Eurovision 2026 in Vienna, Austria, will be represented by artists with almost the same stage names – LELEKA and LELEK. This year, Euro fans will have to choose between two "

This coincidence became known after the completion of the Croatian national selection on February 15. The final of Dora 2026 ended with the triumph of the group LELEK with the composition Andromeda.

The team, which is not the first time to storm the Croatian stage, this year was able to conquer both the audience and the professional jury (both national and international). The results were formed taking into account 25% of the votes of the national jury, 25% of the international jury and 50% of the audience votes.

LELEK have already taken part in Dora before. The group "

Ukraine will be represented by LELEKA - the stage name of singer Victoria Kornikova (Leleki), who won the National selection with the song Ridnym. She received the maximum 10 points from the jury and 10 points from the audience.

Victoria Kornikova was born in the city of Shakhterskoye, Dnepropetrovsk region. She received her education at the Kiev National University of Theater, Film and Television named after Karpenko-Kary. She later continued her studies at the Dresden University of Music named after Carl-Maria von Weber, where she received a bachelor's degree in jazz vocals and a master's degree in composition.. She also worked on music for films and TV series, in particular, she created the soundtracks “Zozulya” and “Zapizno” for the TV series “There Will Be People”.

In 2016, in Berlin, she founded the ethno-jazz group LELEKA together with German musicians. The band has released five albums and is touring Europe.. Separately, the singer is developing a solo project DONBA? GRL with electronic sound.

The song Ridnym was written back in early 2022 in Berlin. According to the artist, the composition is dedicated to the theme of connection with family and inner resilience. At the national selection, the performance was based on a minimalistic production with an emphasis on vocal performance.

Reference. Eurovision 2026 will take place in Vienna (Austria) on May 12, 14 and 16 (final).