The photo session starring the first lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, in the fashion magazine Vogue with her husband, President Volodimir Zelenski, generated numerous criticisms on social networks, considering it frivolous in the midst of the conflict between kyiv and Moscow. Zelenska’s portrait is on the cover of the new issue of the publication, while on the pages she poses with female soldiers or in a couple with Zelenski in the presidential office.
Images by celebrated photographer Annie Leibovitz complement a profile of Zelenska that mixes conversations about her style and her experience as first lady during the Russian invasion. According to Vogue’s Instagram account, the article titled “Portrait of Bravery” it also tackles issues of the presidential couple, such as “life in times of war” and “dreams about the future of Ukraine”.
Beneath the posted photos, users left hundreds of comments like “This thing about them posing in a war zone is not to my liking…”, “Don’t romanticize war, Vogue” or “The country at war and the first lady giving an interview to a fashion magazine. They couldn’t be more frivolous“.