Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003
Ukraine was represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 for the first time by Oleksandr Ponomaryov with the song "Hasta la Vista". Before Eurovision. Internal selection. On 13 February 2003, NTU announced that they had internally selected Oleksandr Ponomaryov to represent Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest 2003. Following the announcement of Ponomaryov as the selected artist, composers were able to submit their songs to the broadcaster. 52 songs were received by the broadcaster during the submission period. Selected song, "Hasta la Vista", was officially presented on 14 March 2003. At Eurovision. On  the night of the final Oleksandr performed 16th in the running order, following United Kingdom and preceding Greece. At the close of the voting "Hasta la Vista" had received 30 points from 5 countries (the highest being 10 from Poland), placing Ukraine 14th of the 26 entries. As Ukraine failed to reach the top 11 in the final, the country was forced to compete in the semi-final of the 2004 Contest. NTU broadcast the show live for the first time ever. It was announced before the contest that a reporter and presenter of "Studio 5" TV-show Dmytro Kryzhanivskyi  would provide the commentary. Eventually he was joined in commentary booth by radio-DJ and producer Pavlo Shylko who was traveling to Riga as a consultant for Olexandr Ponomaryov. The first spokesperson of Ukraine ever was Liudmyla Khariv.