A UKRAINIAN mum who survived a suspected assassination attempt has posed for the cover of Playboy.
TV presenter Iryna Bilotserkovets can be seen wearing a metal bikini and eye patch after reconstructive surgery rebuilt her face.
The model, whose husband is an aide to Kyiv's mayor Vitali Klitschko, was struck by bullets whilst driving home through the capital with her three children last year.
The incident, which took place on February 26, 2022 – just three days after Russia invaded Ukraine – resulted in her undergoing months of emergency treatment and reconstructive surgery in Berlin.
Yet despite doctors in Ukraine saying she was “probably going to die”, the mum defied the odds and has since become a symbol of resistance in her home country.
She has now appeared on the front of the first Playboy edition to be printed in the country since Vladimir Putin's war broke out.
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Speaking to the magazine about seeing herself in the mirror for the first time after treatment, she said: "An eye missing, tubes sticking out everywhere, hair shaved off from surgery.
"Stitches, scars, wounds everywhere; I was just Frankenstein's monster. My jaw had shattered, like a twig.
"I no longer have a pretty face, but the rest of my body is beautiful."
Ms Bilotserkovets said she was left with a missing eye, a broken jaw, and scars over her body and had to undergo four operations.
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But she admits that staying alive was most important than prioritising the way she would look.
She added: "It was not a question of preserving my beauty; it was a question of whether I would live or not."
Playboy Ukraine said that the model, who now works with Ukraine's cultural forces to put on events for troops, was a heroine in its 'Women Stay Strong' edition – the first to be printed in more than 18 months.
The magazine looks at the "resilience of Ukrainian women who have been injured during the war but who have not lost their thirst for life".
Playboy confirmed that proceeds from sales will be donated to emergency medical equipment for the Ukrainian army.
After Putin invaded Ukraine, the publisher stopped running its magazine edition and solely operated online.
This month’s is the first version to be printed since the start of last year.
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