The Ukrainian version of men’s lifestyle magazine Playboy is publishing a special online edition devoted to the unjustified war that Russia is waging against Ukraine.
The legendary publication is asking for payments starting at 10 euros with proceeds going toward “humanitarian aid, providing [sic] hospitals and purchasing ambulances.”
“Now war has come to our country, and every day we prove to the whole world that our nation is the strongest,” the Ukrainian edition of the publication says on its website. “We have always called for the freedom of our desires, and today we are showing the whole world what true independence and real freedom of an entire nation are.”
Kremlin despot Vladimir Putin ordered a multi-pronged invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 as part of a war he has waged on the neighboring country since 2014, killing thousands of civilians and soldiers, as well as displacing more than 10 million people.
The promotional page of the website quotes the magazine’s founding publisher, Hugh Hefner, who said: “Real obscenities have nothing to do with sex. The real obscenities are war, intolerance, and killing each other.”
Teri Thomerson, director of public relations for Playboy Enterprises, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
What inspired the editors of the Ukrainian version of the magazine was “the courage of the Ukrainians.”
They noted that the main image of the issue “is beyond Playboy standards” of usually depicting females on the cover page and that this edition will “show the whole world what is really happening in Ukraine.”
“It will show courage and tears of despair. It will show your thirst for victory. It will show a crushing, ruthless war that the world must stop,” the editors said.
Playboy magazine was founded in Chicago in 1953 and is currently based in California.
