You're reading: Ukraine’s Jamala wins Eurovision (VIDEO)

Ukraine’s singer Jamala won first place at the Eurovision song contest with her song “1944.”

The Eurovision grand final took place in Stockholm on May 14. Jamala, whose full name is Susana Jamaladinova, got points through SMS voting of the audience and a jury.

Jamala performs her winning song “1944”

Jamala took victory with 534 points. Second place went to Australia, the jury’s favorite, with 511 points for Dami Im’s Sound Of Silence. Russia came in third place with 491 points for You Are The Only One, sung by Sergey Lazarev.

This is the second time that Ukraine has won Eurovision. Ruslana won the 2004 contest with her “Wild Dances” hit.

The victory means that Eurovision will take place in Ukraine in 2017.

Jamala representing Ukraine with the song “1944” celebrates with the trophy after winning the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 Grand Final in Stockholm, on May 14, 2016. (AFP)

A Crimean Tatar singer, Jamala’s “1944” about the tragic events of the Crimean Tatar history, when the Soviet authorities ordered Tatars to leave their native region Crimea in 1944.

Jamala’s family was among those who were deported to Central Asia.

The song is reminiscent of the modern-day events — Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the pressure that Russian authorities there put on the Crimean Tatars living in the peninsula, forcing many of them to leave again – this time, for mainland Ukraine.

Russian lawmakers wanted a ban on Jamala’s entry, citing the Eurovision rules that forbid political expressions in songs. But the organizers ruled that “1944” wasn’t a political song.

Jamala won her way into the Eurovision final with her much-acclaimed performance in the semi-final on May 12.

In the final it was a tight vote among Ukraine, Australia and Russia.

Russian representative Sergey Lazarev got into a Crimea-related controversy in 2014, when soon after the Russia’s annexation of the peninsula he told in an interview to a Ukrainian TV channel that to him, “Crimea has always been Ukrainian.”

He was criticized in Russia for the comment, and had to explain himself by saying that his words were misunderstood.

Read the Kyiv Post interview with Jamala on March 10, 2016

Lyrics to the winning song “1944”

Photos from Jamala’s victory press conference

Daily press totals from Eurovision

Jamala’s remarks after winning Eurovision