Ukrainian Porn Star Poses With Mangled War Veterans For Charity Photo Shoot

First there was the bizarre contingent of pro-Gaza porn stars that twerked their way into the media limelight in support of Palestinians.  Now Ukraine appears to be hosting a charity calendar featuring porn actress Yulia Senyuk, also known as Josephine Jackson, posing with armless and legless war veterans wearing tuxedos.  Who could have guessed that porn stars would become a staple of public war relations?

The scene looks like something straight out of Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers, complete with mechanical prosthetic limbs and plenty of cleavage.  Sadly, the intent is not satirical.  The actress notes on her Instagram:

"You may ask why we chose theater and suits. It is because we have all seen our guys in military uniforms or in rehabilitation centers, which is, unfortunately, a very hackneyed topic, so most of you just ignore it. But this transformation reveals them from a completely different side, showing what refined, elegant and handsome gentlemen they are. It gives them more self-confidence and a sense of self-sufficiency. These are the emotions we should give them, not pity and tears... Believe me, this is more than enough for them. The stage of pity has long since passed, and now we need to give them a thirst for life by involving them in this kind of activities. And I know that they enjoyed it, and that's the most important thing..." 

You might be wondering why the calendar will not feature popular Ukrainian actresses, fashion models or perhaps the Ukrainian winner of the Miss Universe pageant, Angelina Usanova.  It's hard to say, but the optics are not great.  Since the beginning of the war the country has seen an unprecedented spike in prostitution as well as female refugees being recruited abroad for sex work.  The number of Ukrainian women working in prostitution has quintupled in Red-Light districts in European cities like Berlin, Germany.  It is estimated that around ten times as many Ukrainian women have entered prostitution globally in the past two years. 

The goal of raising funds for the rehabilitation of injured veterans is certainly a noble one.  However, since nothing travels outside of Ukraine without some level of propaganda gloss, one wonders what the intended message of this photo shoot really is?  Take an artillery round for Zelensky and maybe you too can spend an evening with a porn queen?

Ukraine has become one of the the biggest proxy wars since Vietnam in 1965, or the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, but it is also possibly the first war to ever be fought in the battlefields of social media.  Disinformation, spin and hype have buried the news feeds with the public left to sift through the debris for individual seeds of truth. 

In the midst of this chaotic struggle for online supremacy and popular sentiment it's not surprising that some promotional stunts get a little weird.  In desperation, Ukraine is willing to try anything to appeal to western populations and get that next injection of sweet NATO cheddar. And to be fair, westerners do love their pornography.