Ukraine picks Kyiv as 2017 Eurovision host city

​Ukraine has announced that next year's Eurovision Song Contest will take place in its capital, Kyiv.

Ukraine is the host after Ukrainian singer Jamala won this year's event in a moment of national pride for this former Soviet republic.

The 2017 organizing committee announced on Friday that Kyiv has beaten the Black Sea city of Odesa in the race to host the competition.

There had also been suggestions that Ukraine would name a city in the Russia-occupied Crimea as the host city as a political gesture.

Culture Minister Yevhen Nyshchyuk said in remarks carried by the Tass news agency that Ukraine, a war-torn country mired in a severe economic recession, would spend about $45 million US on hosting Eurovision.