Ex-Miss Ukraine Anastasiia Lenna joins fight against Russia, shares photo

Anastasia Lenna, former Miss Ukraine and who represented her country in the Miss Grand International beauty contest in 2015, on Saturday posted a picture of her in military gear, announcing that she is joining the Ukrainian military as it fights Russian forces, according to a report in The New York Post.

“Everyone who crosses the Ukrainian border with the intent to invade will be killed!”, Lenna wrote on the post that she shared on social media platform Meta’ s Instagram. 

According to Sky News, The former beauty queen also shared a message in support of the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. She shared a photo of soldiers walking with President Zelensky while hailing him as a “true and strong leader”.

President Zelensky has asked Ukrainian citizen to volunteer to defend their country against the Russian forces. Ukrainian officials said they have handed out 18,000 guns to volunteers, as well as issuing instructions on how to make petrol bombs. Volunteers with no combat experience have been seen queueing to join the Ukrainian defence, while age restrictions for joining the army have been dropped.

The former Miss Ukraine appealed for international support in several other posts shared with her 2 lakh followers. 

Not just by taking up arms, in one post, Lenna has also asked her fellow citizen to take down road signs in order to make it difficult for Russian troops to navigate the country.

Lenna, who is a marketing and management graduate from Slavistik University in Kyiv, speaks five languages and has worked as a translator.

She took up arms after the Russian army invaded Ukraine last week. 

Ukraine has said it wants an “immediate ceasefire” and withdrawal of Russian troops. 

Ukraine’s health ministry said on Sunday that at least 352 civilians, including 14 children, have been killed since the Russian invasion began. A further 1,684 people have been wounded, it said.