Having survived the attack, the Ukrainian model opens up after two years of Russian invasion: ‘People are going crazy’

Having survived the attack, the Ukrainian model opens up after two years of Russian invasion: ‘People are going crazy’


Iryna Bilotserkovets was shot in the head just three days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.

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In the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a model was shot in the head in an alleged assassination attempt as she tried to flee Kiev. Saturday 24th, on the second anniversary of the war, Iryna Bilotserkovets, who posed on the cover of the first Playboy printed in Ukraine after the invasion, recalls the attack and reveals that he said goodbye to his children after the attack.

TV presenter Iryna is the wife of Kiev mayor’s advisor Vitali Klitschko and mother of three children. Just three days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, you were the victim of a shooting attack blamed on Russian forces. However, it is not known whether the model was a target or whether she was hit during the crossfire.

The model lost her left eye and underwent 10 hours of surgery to remove the bullet from her skull, she told the tabloid The sun. Iryna revealed that doctors believed she would not survive and that she even said goodbye to her children but, by a “miracle”, she credits, she managed to survive.

Iryna also underwent facial reconstruction and resumed modeling, wearing an eye patch, sunglasses or accessories to hide the loss of her left eye. Her work for the men’s magazine made her a symbol of resistance among Ukrainian troops, she says.

The model reveals that, despite the attack, she continues to live in the Ukrainian capital and that the bombings have gotten worse. Every day Iryna and her family take refuge in an underground shelter and it is normal to be without electricity in Kiev. “Children, women and the elderly are dying,” she underlines.

“The leaders of other countries forget this [Vladimir] Putin is a murderer who has been waging a cold-blooded war for eight years. He crossed all acceptable limits,” Iryna said.

Having lived in war for two years, the model claims that the morale of Ukrainians has declined over time. “People are going crazy here.”

Attack at the beginning of the war

Iryna Bilotserkovets was shot in the head on February 26, 2022, as she tried to leave Ukraine’s capital three days after the Russian invasion began.

At the time, she was driving home through an affluent Kiev neighborhood with her three children when their car was hit by bullets. The model was seriously injured and underwent months of emergency treatment and reconstructive surgery.

“Stitches, scars, wounds everywhere. I was just Frankenstein’s monster. My jaw broke, like a twig. I don’t have a pretty face anymore, but the rest of my body is beautiful,” he said.

The model now cooperates with Ukrainian cultural forces to organize events for the troops. In total, he had to undergo four operations and lost an eye, a broken jaw and scars all over his body.

“It wasn’t a question of preserving my beauty, it was a question of whether I would live or not. Doctors in Ukraine said I would probably die. I didn’t agree,” he said.

Playboy Ukraine said in a statement that the model was a heroine in its ‘Women Stay Strong’ issue, which examines the “resilience of Ukrainian women who were wounded during the war but who have not lost their thirst for life.”

According to the Daily Mail, since Russia launched its invasion last year, Ukrainian Playboy has only produced online editions, and this version was the first to be printed in more than 18 months.

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Source: Terra

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