BASEL, Switzerland (AP) — Ukraine’s musicians can’t escape war, even at the Eurovision Song Contest.
Rock band Ziferblat were in Basel, Switzerland to represent their country when they learned the home of backing singer Khrystyna Starykova in a frontline region of eastern Ukraine had been destroyed by Russian shelling.
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Eurovision competitor band Ziferblat from Ukraine eats traditional food during a family meeting of Ukrainian people in a park in Basel as part of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest week, in Basel, Switzerland, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
People from Ukraine hold a giant Ukrainian flag during a family meeting with their Eurovision band Ziferblat in a park in Basel as part of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest week, in Basel, Switzerland, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Ziferblat from Ukraine performs the song "Bird of Pray" during the first semi-final of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest, in Basel, Switzerland, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Eurovision competitor band Ziferblat from Ukraine gives an interview to the Associated Press during a family meeting of Ukrainian people in a park in Basel as part of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest week, in Basel, Switzerland, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Eurovision band Ziferblat of Ukraine sings their national anthem with Ukrainian people during a family meeting in a park in Basel as part of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest week, in Basel, Switzerland, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
“She’s so strong,” said guitarist Valentyn Leshchynskyi, who formed Ziferblat with his vocalist twin brother Daniil and drummer Fedir Khodakov. “She is 19 years old only, but the impact of this situation — I think she won’t give up.
“Of course it’s difficult when you’re losing your flat while you need to stay calm to celebrate here because it’s a musical festival, it’s not about the war.”
The band is set to compete for Ukraine in Saturday’s Eurovision grand final with “Bird of Pray,” a song whose intense vocals and prog rock sound owe something to the 1970s – as does the bell-bottomed pink suit Daniil Leshchynskyi wore in Tuesday’s semi-final.
Valentyn Leshchynskyi said the lyrical message of loss and hope, centered on a phoenix-like bird, resonates with what Ukrainians experienced in recent years.
“We want to build a dream on the stage – even for three minutes, for Ukrainians – like the war will be over in the very near future,” he told The Associated Press.
Ukraine is a longtime Eurovision competitor – as was its neighbor Russia. Both saw their relationship with the continental pop contest transformed by Moscow’s full-scale invasion three years ago.
Russia was kicked out of Eurovision. Ukrainian folk-rap group Kalush Orchestra won the 2022 contest less than three months after the invasion. Winning brought the right to host the contest the following year. When war made that impossible, Liverpool stepped in to stage Eurovision with a distinctly Ukrainian flavor, decking out the English city in blue and yellow Ukrainian flags.
Even before the full-scale invasion, Ukraine used Eurovision for cultural diplomacy, as a way to tell the world about their country’s history, music and language. Ukrainian singer Jamala won the contest in 2016 — two years after Russia illegally seized Crimea — with a song about the expulsion of Crimean Tatars by Stalin in 1944. Kalush Orchestra’s winning song “Stefania” blended rapping in Ukrainian with a haunting refrain on a traditional Ukrainian wind instrument.
Now the message is that Ukraine is still standing, and still fighting.
Daniil admitted to feeling a “little bit of pressure” ahead of Saturday. But he said it was “such a privilege” to represent Ukraine.
“We have two missions here,” his brother Valentyn said. One is to come out at or near the top in Saturday’s 26-nation musical showdown. The other is “to remind Europeans about the war.”
As part of its Eurovision journey, the band is fundraising to buy robotic de-mining systems to help clear an area of Ukraine he says is 3 1/2 times the size of Switzerland.
Ziferblat’s trip to Eurovision coincided with Vyshyvanka Day — the third Thursday in May, when Ukrainians around the world wear traditional embroidered shirts as a symbol of national pride.
The band members joined scores of Ukrainians clad in elaborately stitched vyshyvanka in a Basel park to eat borscht, sing Ukrainian songs and cheer on the band ahead of Saturday’s final.
“This is a day that is gathering all Ukrainians together,” Valentyn said. “In Kyiv, the capital, everyone is wearing these shirts and going to the streets celebrating and you feel like a united nation for one day.”
Associated Press journalist Kwiyeon Ha contributed to this story.
Eurovision competitor band Ziferblat from Ukraine eats traditional food during a family meeting of Ukrainian people in a park in Basel as part of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest week, in Basel, Switzerland, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
People from Ukraine hold a giant Ukrainian flag during a family meeting with their Eurovision band Ziferblat in a park in Basel as part of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest week, in Basel, Switzerland, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Ziferblat from Ukraine performs the song "Bird of Pray" during the first semi-final of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest, in Basel, Switzerland, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Eurovision competitor band Ziferblat from Ukraine gives an interview to the Associated Press during a family meeting of Ukrainian people in a park in Basel as part of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest week, in Basel, Switzerland, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Eurovision band Ziferblat of Ukraine sings their national anthem with Ukrainian people during a family meeting in a park in Basel as part of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest week, in Basel, Switzerland, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
U.S. President Donald Trump says Iran has proposed negotiations after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic as an ongoing crackdown on demonstrators has led to hundreds of deaths.
Trump said late Sunday that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports mount of increasing deaths and the government continues to arrest protesters.
“The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night.
Iran did not acknowledge Trump’s comments immediately. It has previously warned the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has accurately reported on past unrest in Iran, gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran cross checking information. It said at least 544 people have been killed so far, including 496 protesters and 48 people from the security forces. It said more than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.
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Iran drew tens of thousands of pro-government demonstrators to the streets Monday in a show of power after nationwide protests challenging the country’s theocracy.
Iranian state television showed images of demonstrators thronging Tehran toward Enghelab Square in the capital.
It called the demonstration an “Iranian uprising against American-Zionist terrorism,” without addressing the underlying anger in the country over the nation’s ailing economy. That sparked the protests over two weeks ago.
State television aired images of such demonstrations around the country, trying to signal it had overcome the protests, as claimed by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi earlier in the day.
China says it opposes the use of force in international relations and expressed hope the Iranian government and people are “able to overcome the current difficulties and maintain national stability.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Monday that Beijing “always opposes interference in other countries’ internal affairs, maintains that the sovereignty and security of all countries should be fully protected under international law, and opposes the use or threat of use of force in international relations.”
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz condemned “in the strongest terms the violence that the leadership in Iran is directing against its own people.”
He said it was a sign of weakness rather than strength, adding that “this violence must end.”
Merz said during a visit to India that the demonstrators deserve “the greatest respect” for the courage with which “they are resisting the disproportional, brutal violence of Iranian security forces.”
He said: “I call on the Iranian leadership to protect its population rather than threatening it.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman on Monday suggested that a channel remained open with the United States.
Esmail Baghaei made the comment during a news conference in Tehran.
“It is open and whenever needed, through that channel, the necessary messages are exchanged,” he said.
However, Baghaei said such talks needed to be “based on the acceptance of mutual interests and concerns, not a negotiation that is one-sided, unilateral and based on dictation.”
The semiofficial Fars news agency in Iran, which is close to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, on Monday began calling out Iranian celebrities and leaders on social media who have expressed support for the protests over the past two weeks, especially before the internet was shut down.
The threat comes as writers and other cultural leaders were targeted even before protests. The news agency highlighted specific celebrities who posted in solidarity with the protesters and scolded them for not condemning vandalism and destruction to public property or the deaths of security forces killed during clashes. The news agency accused those celebrities and leaders of inciting riots by expressing their support.
Canada said it “stands with the brave people of Iran” in a statement on social media that strongly condemned the killing of protesters during widespread protests that have rocked the country over the past two weeks.
“The Iranian regime must halt its horrific repression and intimidation and respect the human rights of its citizens,” Canada’s government said on Monday.
Iran’s foreign minister claimed Monday that “the situation has come under total control” after a bloody crackdown on nationwide protests in the country.
Abbas Araghchi offered no evidence for his claim.
Araghchi spoke to foreign diplomats in Tehran. The Qatar-funded Al Jazeera satellite news network, which has been allowed to work despite the internet being cut off in the country, carried his remarks.
Iran’s foreign minister alleged Monday that nationwide protests in his nation “turned violent and bloody to give an excuse” for U.S. President Donald Trump to intervene.
Abbas Araghchi offered no evidence for his claim, which comes after over 500 have been reported killed by activists -- the vast majority coming from demonstrators.
Araghchi spoke to foreign diplomats in Tehran. The Qatar-funded Al Jazeera satellite news network, which has been allowed to work despite the internet being cut off in the country, carried his remarks.
Iran has summoned the British ambassador over protesters twice taking down the Iranian flag at their embassy in London.
Iranian state television also said Monday that it complained about “certain terrorist organization that, under the guise of media, spread lies and promote violence and terrorism.” The United Kingdom is home to offices of the BBC’s Persian service and Iran International, both which long have been targeted by Iran.
A huge crowd of demonstrators, some waving the flag of Iran, gathered Sunday afternoon along Veteran Avenue in LA’s Westwood neighborhood to protest against the Iranian government. Police eventually issued a dispersal order, and by early evening only about a hundred protesters were still in the area, ABC7 reported.
Los Angeles is home to the largest Iranian community outside of Iran.
Los Angeles police responded Sunday after somebody drove a U-Haul box truck down a street crowded with the the demonstrators, causing protesters to scramble out of the way and then run after the speeding vehicle to try to attack the driver. A police statement said one person was hit by the truck but nobody was seriously hurt.
The driver, a man who was not identified, was detained “pending further investigation,” police said in a statement Sunday evening.
Shiite Muslims hold placards and chant slogans during a protest against the U.S. and show solidarity with Iran in Lahore, Pakistan, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)
Activists carrying a photograph of Reza Pahlavi take part in a rally supporting protesters in Iran at Lafayette Park, across from the White House, in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Activists take part in a rally supporting protesters in Iran at Lafayette Park, across from the White House in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Protesters burn the Iranian national flag during a rally in support of the nationwide mass demonstrations in Iran against the government in Paris, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
