Beauty pageant in Russian-controlled Donetsk crowns winner amid ongoing Ukraine conflict

Record ID: 1858560

  • Title: Beauty pageant in Russian-controlled Donetsk crowns winner amid ongoing Ukraine conflict
  • Date: 25th November 2024
  • Summary: DONETSK, RUSSIAN-CONTROLLED UKRAINE (NOVEMBER 24, 2024) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF BEAUTY PAGEANT WINNER SOFIA GRESKO BEING CROWNED GRESKO AND OTHER LEADING PARTICIPANTS ON STAGE AFTER AWARD CEREMONY (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) "BEAUTY OF DONBAS 2024" PAGEANT WINNER, SOFIA GRESKO, SAYING: "My win is well-deserved indeed, because I have worked on myself every day for a very long time. I have practiced my catwalk (for stage), worked on my overall condition and self-awareness. Therefore, this win is well-deserved, thank you very much." PARTICIPANTS REHEARSING PARTICIPANTS CHEERING THEMSELVES UP (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) "BEAUTY OF DONBAS 2024" PAGEANT PARTICIPANT, ANASTASIA KUDRYAVTSEVA, SAYING: "Yes, I feel very emotional. It is our first appearance now. I feel that my knees are shaking a bit. But I hope that when I'll appear on stage I will relax and will perform with maximum confidence to make a good impression." VARIOUS OF PARTICIPANTS IN DEFILE WEARING GOLDEN DRESSES (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) "BEAUTY OF DONBAS 2024" PAGEANT PARTICIPANT, VIKTORIA VELIKOTSKAYA, SAYING: "As a matter of fact, I think it is not especially appropriate (to hold beauty pageants) during the intensive combat operations underway, but at this present moment, yes (it's appropriate). Because it is worth reminding the people that beauty does exist in the world. As a saying has it, 'beauty will save the world'."
  • Embargoed: 9th December 2024 10:04
  • Keywords: Ukraine crisis
  • Location: DONETSK, RUSSIAN-CONTROLLED UKRAINE
  • City: DONETSK, RUSSIAN-CONTROLLED UKRAINE
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Europe
  • Reuters ID: LVA001223425112024RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Despite ongoing fighting near Russian-controlled Donetsk and occasional shelling of the city and its suburbs, "Beauty of Donbas 2024" pageant was held on Sunday (November 24) for the first time since 2021.
    Out of more than 200 contestants, 22 made it to the final.
    Sofia Gresko, a native of Donetsk, won the title. "My victory is really well-deserved, because I’ve worked on myself every day for a long time," she told Reuters. Her next plans include competing in other similar events, including Miss Russia.
    The pageant was launched in 2015, shortly after Russian-backed secessionist forces declared the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and hostilities began in Ukraine's Donbas region.
    The beauty pageant has been cancelled in the last two years due to the conflict in Ukraine, after Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on February 24, 2002 in what Moscow calls its "special military operation".
    After almost three-years of fighting, Russian forces hold a little less than 20% of Ukraine's territory and have advanced through Donetsk region over the past two months at their fastest rate since March 2022, according to open source data.
    Ukraine has lost over 40% of the territory in Russia's Kursk region that it rapidly seized in a surprise incursion in August as Russian forces have mounted waves of counter-assaults, according to a senior Ukrainian military, close to the country's General Staff.
    But Kyiv is fighting back, striking deeper into Russian territory with Western-supplied long-range missiles.
    Moscow responded last week with the first strike o using a medium-range ballistic missile, the "Hazel Tree" Oreshnik, that hit a military-industrial complex in Dnipro, some 268 kilometres (166 miles) west of Donetsk.
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