$25 Million, 30,000 Drones: Inside Ukraine's Plan To Turn Porn Into War Cash

Ukraine is considering legalising pornography to raise money for its war against Russia, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.

A bill backed by Ukrainian lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak argues that bringing the country's adult entertainment industry into the legal economy could generate as much as $25 million in tax revenue.

Zhelezniak, who chairs the Ukrainian Parliament's finance committee, estimates that the money could be enough to fund as many as 30,000 drones for the war effort.

Producing, possessing or distributing pornography is currently illegal and can carry a prison sentence of up to seven years. Yet the adult content industry has continued to expand, operating with the help of corrupt police.

Paying Taxes Can Itself Become A Crime

Ukrainian authorities have recently started seeking taxes from adult content creators. But creators who declare their earnings can draw attention to activities that remain criminal under Ukraine's pornography laws.

"These women either don't pay taxes and face criminal charges for that, or they pay taxes and get charged with violating pornography laws," Zhelezniak, who chairs the finance committee in Ukraine's Parliament, told the Journal. "It's a tragicomic situation."

Before Russia launched its full-scale invasion, Ukrainian authorities largely looked the other way when it came to the adult entertainment business.

The Journal reported that the Ukrainian General Prosecutor's office recently uncovered cases in which officials in three regions allegedly received bribes of up to $20,000.

According to figures cited by the Journal, 7,900 Ukrainians earned more than $131 million through OnlyFans in 2023, based on data from the platform's parent company, Fenix International.

But the tax authorities' efforts to collect revenue from creators have created a new problem.

Some people who declared their earnings later received letters from Kyiv accusing them of tax evasion as well as illegally producing adult content.

For creators, that has meant facing a choice between declaring their income and potentially exposing themselves to prosecution, or staying underground.

OnlyFans creator Svitlana Dvornikova told the Journal that police raided her home one morning while she was preparing her daughter for school. Officers seized $20,000 in cash, along with her laptop and hard drives.

"They had a list of webcam models, and knew all their addresses," Dvornikova told the Journal.

She said officers offered her the chance to pay a bribe to make the case disappear. However, she refused.

Another woman told the newspaper that police searched her apartment in a similar fashion. She was later called to court but stayed away because she feared she would be pressured into paying a bribe.

The uncertainty has prompted several Ukrainian OnlyFans creators, including Dvornikova, to leave the country or temporarily relocate elsewhere in Europe.

Lesia Mykhalenko, a tax lawyer who has represented more than 100 OnlyFans creators, said prosecuting them was a poor use of government resources during wartime.

"This is a victimless crime," Mykhalenko told the Journal. "It unnecessarily burdens the legal system at a time when we should be focused on defending the country."

Dvornikova also took her case directly to the Ukrainian government.

After a criminal case was launched against her, she filed a petition that was later published on President Volodymyr Zelensky's website.

Calling herself a "conscientious taxpayer," Dvornikova argued that the government should not treat her as a criminal after she had paid nearly $900,000 in taxes.

She claimed the amount was equivalent to "hundreds of Russians killed on the front line."

The petition quickly gained traction, collecting more than 25,000 signatures in a week, according to the Journal.

Zelensky subsequently said Parliament would consider Zhelezniak's proposal to legalise pornography.

The bill co-authored by Zhelezniak passed its first reading in Ukraine's Parliament in July and is now awaiting a second reading.