Live updates: Russia’s war in Ukraine

The Ukrainian duo TVORCHI, who are representing their country at this year’s Eurovision contest, have teamed up with Visa and the fundraising platform UNITED24 (launched by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky), to raise funds for equipment to help Ukrainian babies born prematurely due to war stressors. 

During the Eurovision opening ceremony that took place on Sunday in the English city of Liverpool, the duo wore costumes with the names and the weights of Ukrainian babies born prematurely displayed on their jackets. 

“Sofia, 1340 grams. Marichka, 804.6 grams. Nikita, 1280 grams. Alice, 1600 grams. Denis, 900 grams…These names and weights are displayed on our costumes, that we wore on the turquoise Eurovision runway,” the TVORCHI duo wrote in an Instagram post on Monday. “They belong to children who were born in Ukraine during the war, very tiny. More often, because their mothers experienced stress during pregnancy due to explosions, shelling and a constant sense of threat.” 

“These babies survived — their little hearts were saved by intensive care incubators,” the duo added. 

According to UNITED24, “because of the war, the number of such newborns has increased by at least 15% and behind this figure there are thousands of vulnerable children who were born prematurely and cannot survive without special assistance.” 

The goal of the initiative is to attract international support to raise 10 million hryvnias (around $270,000) for the purchase of 10 incubators for Ukrainian infants, UNITED24 says.

Eurovision is traditionally hosted in the country that won the contest the previous year. Ukraine won the contest in 2022 but cannot host it due to the ongoing conflict, so the United Kingdom is hosting on its behalf.

The theme of Eurovision 2023 is “United by music” and the final takes place on Saturday May 13.