The Moscow-Kiev flight, carrying the international Eurovision pageant winner Ruslana back to her native Ukraine, was about to land, when the singer had suddenly felt sick. Her weakness and dizziness consequently increased; despite her claims that she was “ok”, Alexander Ksenofontov, the husband and producer of the “wild dancer,” decided to call the ambulance.

Most of the emergency services of Kiev, Ukraine`s capital, were either out of ambulance cars, or refused to take a long trip to Kiev`s airport Boryspil. The singer was eventually transported to clinic, where the doctors diagnosed her with overfatigue, stress and malnutrition.

After staying in bed for the couple of hours, Ruslana took to the stage the same day, giving a 40 and 60 minute performance at Kiev’s concerts. Neither the audience, nor the concert management had noticed that the singer was feeling sick. Ruslana returned to the hospital only to be back on her feet again for the promo-tour to Belgium, Netherlands and Austria, that kicked off today.

Ukraine may have to thank Ruslana for building up its international image, but until recently it has been uncertain, whether its capital is able to host Eurovision 2005. As it turned out, the 4 –million city lacked the necessary facilities for hosting the Eurovision show. However, according to the city major Alexander Omelchenko, the city authorities decided to launch the construction of a gigantic concert hall and a set of comfortable hotels to accommodate international visitors.