THRIVING

Ukrainian Playboy Cover Features Assassination Attempt Survivor

“I no longer have a pretty face, but the rest of my body is beautiful.”

The first edition of Playboy printed in Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion has featured a suspected assassination attempt survivor on its cover. Iryna Bilotserkovets, a model and television presenter, wore a metal eyepatch and bikini for the photoshoot and talked to the magazine about the extensive reconstructive surgery to her face required after she was shot multiple times in Kyiv just a few days after the invasion began in February 2022. After seeing her face after treatment, Bilotserkovets said she saw in the mirror an “eye missing, tubes sticking out everywhere, hair shaved off from surgery,” according to The Sun. “Stitches, scars, wounds everywhere; I was just Frankenstein’s monster. My jaw had shattered, like a twig. I no longer have a pretty face, but the rest of my body is beautiful.” Proceeds from the sale of the publication’s “Women Stay Strong” edition will be donated to emergency medical equipment for Kyiv’s forces.