Jamala of Ukraine on Sunday won the Eurovision Song Contest, the annual competition that pits singers from primarily European countries against each other, hosted this year by Stockholm, Sweden.
She sang “1944,” a song about the deportation of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet Union on orders of Josef Stalin.
Eurovision officials ruled the song didn’t breach rules preventing songs containing political lyrics.
“I really want peace and love to everyone,” Jamala said as she accepted the winner’s trophy. “Come to Ukraine! Thank you so much.”
Australia’s Dami Im won the most points (320) from the jury panels in 42 countries participating in the voting, but didn’t get enough points from the viewers call-in votes and finished second.
Russia’s Sergey Lazarev finished third.
Developing story – more to come