Herman Nienov, Creative Director of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 from Ukraine and Creative Producer of the National Selection for Eurovision 2025, talks about his life during the full-scale russian invasion of Ukraine. 

In the first days of the war, he set up a shelter for his friends and four dogs in his office and gave all his savings to save his team. “My work pulled me through – without it, I would have gone mad,” says Herman. Despite his international recognition and work on the Eurovision Song Contest, he adamantly refuses to leave Ukraine: “I want to live and create in this country.” He speaks poignantly about his love for Kyiv and the “taste of childhood” in his native Odesa. For him, the most important thing today is to use every opportunity to improve Ukraine’s image, provide jobs for others and prove that the Ukrainian creative industry is alive despite the war.