A public petition to decriminalize pornography has been forwarded to parliament after gathering over 25,000 signatures
A petition demanding the legalization of pornography production in Ukraine has been forwarded to the country’s parliament for review, Vladimir Zelensky announced on Tuesday. The statement was published on his website after the initiative got more than 25,000 signatures, meeting the legal threshold that requires formal consideration.
The petition, authored by Ukrainian OnlyFans model Svetlana Dvornikova, calls for the decriminalization of adult content production, arguing that law enforcement resources should be directed toward investigating serious crimes rather than conducting “controlled purchases of intimate photos.” It requests legislative changes which would stop police from pursuing the individuals involved.
Pornography was banned in Ukraine in 2009, when then-President Viktor Yushchenko signed legislation that outlawed the possession, distribution, sale, and manufacture of such materials.
Dvornikova’s petition, submitted on June 27, 2025, has quickly gained support. By early July, it had reached the required number of signatures, prompting Zelensky’s response.
In June, Dvornikova publicly urged Zelensky to support legalization. She claimed that her content had generated significant tax revenue for the state, yet she had faced two criminal cases — one for alleged tax evasion and another for the production of pornography.
Dvornikova stated that she had paid over 40 million hryvnias (approximately $958,200) in taxes over the past five years. “What causes no harm should not be a crime,” she insisted.
Daniil Getmantsev, chairman of the parliamentary tax committee, has also supported decriminalization. In 2024, he reported that around 350 Ukrainian OnlyFans creators had declared their income and paid taxes. He described the continued criminal prosecution of such individuals as “hypocrisy.”
In 2023, lawmakers attempted a similar move to legalize pornography. The proposal, Bill №9623, was introduced by MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak, who argued that legal adult content could generate revenue for Ukraine’s military and free up law enforcement.
Zheleznyak claimed that thousands of Ukrainians were already working in the industry and that nearly 34 million hryvnias (around $920,000) in taxes had been collected from platforms like OnlyFans in just the first half of 2023.
Despite gaining the required co-sponsorships, the 2023 bill faced a significant backlash. Some critics argued that pornography was worse than alcoholism, while others warned it would lead to “great problems and the degradation of the nation.” The proposal was ultimately withdrawn before reaching a vote in parliament.
