Sisters who filmed themselves twerking on war hero dad's grave could face jail time

Two sisters have been detained by Ukrainian law enforcement after posting a video of themselves twerking by their war hero father's grave.

The video saw one of the women raising her arms and swaying her hips while the other walked past on the phone. She then joined her sister, stepping in front of the camera and twerking directly at it.

The pair had been to visit their father's grave surrounded by flowers and Ukrainian flags when they recorded the video. While there, they danced and struck poses by the grave in the Forest Cemetery in Kyiv on 24 August.

Many people responded to the video with outrage after it was posted online and eventually, Ukrainian law enforcement were alerted and tracked the two women down within one hour, before they were detained.

They have since apologised for the video, and claimed that their actions had been intended as a tribute to their late father's sense of humour.

Their father was reportedly a soldier in the 95th Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and was killed near to Izium in Donetsk in Eastern Ukraine. Donetsk has seen heavy fighting since Russia's invasion.

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It has also been an area of conflict since 2014 as Russia claims the territory, claiming that the large Russian-speaking population means that the territory should be ceded to them. Ukraine disagrees with this, with the region forming part of its original 1991 borders.

The two sisters claimed that their provocative dance would have made their father laugh, and this was why they had done it.

In a subsequent apology on social media, they said: "My sister and I apologise. We honour every fallen soldier for our homeland.

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"We visited the grave of our fallen father, who died near Izium. Unfortunately, it was not very correct to post this kind of video, although we did not intend to defame heroes."

She added: "Our behaviour was connected to our understanding of our late father's perspective on burial customs.

"So we didn't see anything wrong at the time, but now we regret it."

Both of them now face a charge of desecrating a grave, which could carry a sentence of up to five years in prison.

This is also not the first time that influencers have gotten into hot water over taking snaps and videos in inappropriate places. In April 2023 an influencer received an online backlash for posing on the train tracks outside the entrance to Auschwitz.