Yulia Yurina is a Ukrainian folk singer of Russian origin. She relocated to Kyiv, Ukraine in 2012 to study Ukrainian folklore and culture as a professional folklorist. In June 2016, she co-founded the band YUKO with Ukrainian multi-instrumentalist Stas Koroliov, whom she met on the Voice of the Country project; the duo, signed to the Masterskaya label, released albums DITCH in 2017 and DURA in 2018, performed at European festivals in Poland and Hungary in 2018, and reached the final of Ukraine's National Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song Galyna guliala. YUKO disbanded in 2020, after which Yurina launched a solo career, releasing the live album Gvara. She has lived in Ukraine for over 13 years, applied multiple times for Ukrainian citizenship without success despite passing language exams and gaining a permanent residence permit in 2018, and in February 2025 petitioned the Ministry of Culture as a strategically important figure. What makes Yulia Yurina unique is her deep dedication to Ukrainian folklore as a foreign-born artist performing exclusively in Ukrainian, bridging Russian origins with Ukrainian cultural promotion amid citizenship challenges and band collaborations that elevated folk-electronica fusion internationally.