A collage of images is being shared on social media claiming it as recent pictures of former Miss Ukraine Anastasiia Lenna holding a gun and defending her country against the Russian invasion. This post claims that Anastasiia Lenna had swapped her glamorous journey and joined the Ukraine army to fight the Russian troops. In the wake of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky’s announcement on providing weapons to citizens who wish to defend their country against the Russian troops, this post is going viral on social media. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Former Miss Ukraine Anastasiia Lenna joined the army to defend her country against the Russian troops.
Fact: Anastasiia Lenna shared this picture of her holding a gun recently on her official Instagram handle. Later, she clarified that she had shared this picture only to inspire people. Anastasiia Lenna herself mentioned as an Airsoft player who plays with mock weapons and clarified that she had not joined Ukraine Army to fight the Russian troops. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
On reverse image search of the photo, the same photo was found posted on former Miss Ukraine Anastasiia Lenna’s official Instagram handle on 22 February 2022. Anastasiia Lenna had shared this picture with hashtags #standwithukraine, #handsoffukraine.
Later, when many social media users shared this picture assuming she had taken up arms to defend her country, Anastasiia Lenna through another Instagram post issued a clarification on this picture, Anastasiia Lenna said, “I AM NOT A MILITARY, JUST A HUMAN. Due current situation I want to talk! I am not a military, just a woman, just normal human. Just a person, like all people of my country. I am also a airsoft player for years. You can Google what #airsoft means. All pictures in my profile to inspire people”. Anastasiia Lenna clarified that she had not shared this picture to do any propaganda but, to show how strong, confident, and powerful the Ukrainian women are.
Several news websites have published articles reporting Anastasiia Lenna’s clarification regarding her viral photo with a gun. They can be seen here and here. From all these pieces of evidence, it can be concluded that Anastasiia Lenna had not joined Ukraine army to fight against the Russian troops.
To sum it up, the former Miss Ukraine Anastasiia Lenna did not join the army to fight against the Russian troops.
