Two Ukrainian women face up to five years in prison after being arrested for filming themselves dancing and twerking on the graves of fallen soldiers in a Kyiv cemetery on the nation’s Independence Day.
The sisters have been charged with desecrating a grave after dancing suggestively in a now-deleted viral clip taken during a visit to their father’s burial site; he was reportedly killed defending Ukraine from Russian invaders near the city of Izyum on the Donets River in Kharkiv Oblast.
The pair laid down a mobile phone between the graves of two fallen soldiers decorated with Ukrainian flags in the Forest Cemetery and, dressed in black crop tops and skin-tight shorts, began to twerk.
In a statement by Kyiv police published on Telegram on Aug. 25, authorities confirmed the women had been arrested “less than an hour” after the alleged offense.
“As it became known, two sisters came to the Forest Cemetery and decided to ‘honor’ the memory of the fallen defenders of Ukraine in this way,” the statement read.
“Investigators of the Desnyan police department, in agreement with the district prosecutor’s office, started criminal proceedings under Part 2 of Article 297 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – insulting a grave.”
It explained that the “women face restriction of liberty for a period of three to five years” for their actions.
Following their arrest, the sisters uploaded a video to Instagram expressing regret for their actions.
“My sister and I want to apologize to everyone, apologize for our thoughtless video. It was absolutely not our aim to denigrate anyone, least of all the memory of our fallen heroes,” the women said.
“We understand that our actions had no place where our father is buried with other fallen defenders of Ukraine. We are sincerely sorry and ask you to forgive our stupidity.
“We completely understand how shameful our act appears, and we are now ashamed. Please forgive us for this horrible mistake,” they added.
