Machine gun sequins. On her Instagram account, the former Miss Ukraine Anastasiia Lenna, crowned in 2015, poses a semi-automatic rifle slung over her shoulder, in front of a faded building. And here is already the French and foreign press on his heels, interpreting the cliché as an officialization of his participation in the fighting that is eating away at the country, invaded by Russia since February 24, 2022.
What the pictures show
From the photos presented, can we say that Anastasiia Lenna, 31, 223,000 followers on her Instagram account has really “taken up arms” for Ukraine? Many elements cause confusion as to the nature of the image broadcast by the young woman. Firstly, the date that the ex-miss indicated in the caption of the publication “22.02.2022 #standwithukraine #handsoffukraine”, as well as the date of publication of the image on Instagram, do not correspond with the start of the war, started two days later, on February 24.
The “weapon” shown in this photo also seems to indicate that it was not taken from a battlefield. This is not the first time that Anastasiia Lenna has posed with it. On February 2, before the war, she appeared on Instagram in white combat gear, in the snow, with a similar weapon, without a sight and the caption identifying an airsoft club in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital.
On January 24, the ex-miss is in fatigues, lying down, with the same weapon in appearance and the hashtags “airsoftukraine”, “airsoftgirl”, among others. Finally, on October 28, Anastasiia Lenna shows up in what looks like an airsoft complex, with the same weapon, identifying the same airsoft club. Balls are visible on the ground.
What it really is
According to several sources specializing in replicas of weapons used in the context of “airsoft”, this outdoor shooting sport, several elements suggest that it would be a replica of an American weapon, the MK18 , sold by Specna Arms.
“It’s good airsoft. I have it in store. In the photo, we see a small label under the bullet ejection hatch. These are the usage prerogatives of the replicas. You can guess the logo above the person’s finger,” analyzes Baptiste Fressin, Honor Airsoft sales/repair specialist.
A small window has been placed in front of the viewfinder: “This Plexiglas window was designed for airsoft. It resists beads and prevents them from breaking the glass of the lens. On a real weapon, this is useless. When the ball arrives, it’s too late,” says Guillaume Vuaflart, manager of Shootavenue, an Airsoft boutique.
For Thibault Barre, member of the board of directors and legal manager of the French Airsoft Federation, these elements tend to show that it is a replica used in the context of this sport. “In addition, the weapon is very clean,” he says. Finally, it seems very curious that Ukraine may have provided in the emergency of the war a pink and gold riflescope, as can be seen in the photo of the young woman.
A former miss in the Ukrainian army?
If Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Ukrainian civilians to join the fighting, decreeing the general mobilization of the country and prohibiting men aged 18 to 54 from leaving the territory, neither the photo published by the young woman, nor her messages once morest the war do not explicitly state that Anastasiia Lenna was conscripted.
This Monday, the young woman also posted a martial video with the caption “I am not a soldier, just a woman, a human, like my people. I’ve also been an airsoft player, for years”, without referring to the many articles announcing that she had joined the war. In other words, it is not to be excluded that she helps her country, in one way or another, however nothing indicates that this is not through armed combat.
