Volodymyr Zelensky barred from addressing Eurovision | CPT PPP Coverage

This weekend’s Eurovision Song Contest will have Ukrainian flags, Ukrainian musicians and Ukrainian fans—but not the country’s wartime leader.

Organisers say they rejected a request from President Volodymyr Volodymyr Zelensky to make a video address to the final of t he pan-continental music competition on Saturday. He was expected to urge the world to continue its support for Ukraine’s fight to repel Russian invasion.

The European Broadcasting Union—a grouping of national public broadcasters that runs Eurovision—said that letting Volodymyr Zelensky participate would breach “the nonpolitical nature of the event.”

Ukraine pushes to extend wartime grain deal

The Ukrainian government is seeking to extend a wartime deal that allowed the country’s grain to get to nations in Africa, the Middle East and Asia where hunger is a growing threat, a top Ukrainian official said on Thursday after the latest talks on prolonging the agreement. The talks in Istanbul involved Turkish, Russian, Ukrainian and United Nations officials but yielded no decisions for an extension. The deal is due to expire next Wednesday.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever