(MENAFN) Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky announced on Tuesday that a petition calling for the legalization of pornography production has been sent to parliament for review, after it gathered the necessary 25,000 signatures to require official consideration. The statement was posted on the president’s website.

The petition was initiated by Ukrainian OnlyFans model Svetlana Dvornikova, who argued for the decriminalization of adult content production, claiming that law enforcement should focus on serious crimes rather than investigating the sale of intimate photos. She called for legislative changes to prevent police from targeting individuals involved in such work.

Pornography has been banned in Ukraine since 2009 under a law signed by then-President Viktor Yushchenko, which outlawed the possession, distribution, and production of pornographic materials.

Submitted on June 27, 2025, Dvornikova’s petition quickly met the signature threshold by early July, prompting Zelensky’s formal response. In June, Dvornikova publicly appealed to Zelensky for support, noting that her work had generated significant tax revenue for the state. Despite this, she has faced two criminal cases—one for alleged tax evasion and another for producing pornography.

Dvornikova claimed to have paid over 40 million hryvnias (around $958,200) in taxes over the past five years and argued that activities causing no harm should not be criminalized.

Daniil Getmantsev, head of the parliamentary tax committee, has also backed decriminalization. In 2024, he noted that about 350 Ukrainian OnlyFans creators had declared their income and paid taxes, describing ongoing prosecutions as “hypocrisy.”

A similar effort to legalize pornography occurred in 2023 with Bill №9623, introduced by MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak. He argued that legalizing adult content could both boost military funding and ease law enforcement burdens, noting that nearly 34 million hryvnias (around $920,000) in taxes had been collected from platforms like OnlyFans during the first half of 2023.

However, despite gaining sufficient backing, the 2023 bill faced strong opposition, with critics likening pornography to alcoholism and warning it could lead to the moral degradation of the nation. The bill was ultimately withdrawn before a parliamentary vote.

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