When Jamala beat rival Russia’s entry Sergey Lazarev to win the Eurovision Song Contest in May, it was cited as a triumph for the underdog: Ukraine’s unusually political competition song shone a light on the tragedies of the deportation of the Crimean Tatars at the hands of Joseph Stalin, and won the hearts of Europe.

But hosting next year’s competition – the traditional honour for the Eurovision winner – is proving so costly that Ukrainian television executives have warned they may not be able to host it in 2017 – and the funding crisis has caused the head of the country’s national television company to resign.

Zurab Alasania, the former head of Ukraine’s national broadcaster NTU, said the company’s lack of funding was the main reason for his resignation.