Ukraine wins Eurovision 2016 with heartfelt performance

Ukraine has won this year's Eurovision after Jamala's heartfelt performance at the widely watched event.

With a total of 534 points, Ukraine beat runners up Austria who had 511 points whilst Russia came third with 491 points.

Despite expensive CG effects, bookies favourite Russia finished in third place leading to accusations from Russia that Ukraine's song was a 'demonisation' of Russia.

In 2014 Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine and accused Jamala's song of being 'political'.

Jamala, who is of Crimean Tatar descent, self penned her song '1944' which was met with approval from judges.

The song was inspired by great-grandmother who was deported from her home in the Crimea along with her 5 children in 1944. In total, approximately 240,000 Tatars lost their homes in mass deportations organised by Stalin and the Soviet Union.

Ukraine's president, Petro Poroshenko, described Jamala's impassioned song as 'incredible', a sentiment echoed by many both inside and out of Ukraine.

Large numbers of Russians voted for '1944' and it was awarded 10 points, whilst Ukrainian residents haves Russia's Eurovision entry 12 points, the maximum available.

However, neither juries from Ukraine and Russia gave any points for the others performance.

This year's Eurovision saw a new voting system introduced which highlighted the differences between the scores provided by juries and the preferences of the public.

When collecting her Eurovision 2016 award, Jamala thanked Europe and stated 'I really want peace and love to everyone'. A sentiment echoed by many in both countries.