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Contestant Viktoria Apanasenko also talked about how she had to smile while on the same stage as Miss Russia, who was wearing a dress ‘the colour of blood’
The pageant took place the same day a Russian missile killed more than 40 people in a residential building in Ukraine
Tribune News Service Published: 5:21am, 19 Jan, 2023
Miss Ukraine Viktoriia Apanasenko competes in the evening gown competition during the preliminary round of the 71st Miss Universe Beauty Pageant in New Orleans on January 11. Photo: AP
Miss Ukraine did not win the weekend’s Miss Universe pageant. That honour went to Miss USA.
But that was not what broke Viktoria Apanasenko’s heart in New Orleans on Saturday.
The 29-year-old from Chernihiv – who wore a black evening gown with a cape in the colours of the Ukraine flag to represent her war-torn country’s grief – told the Daily Beast that seeing Miss Russia’s contestant parade across the stage sporting “the colour of blood” really hit home.
“I am not sure the organisers understood what it felt like for me to be standing and smiling on the same stage with Miss Russia who was wearing a red dress, the colour of blood,” Apanasenko said.
Miss Russia Anna Linnikova takes part in the evening gown competition during the preliminary round of the 71st Miss Universe Beauty Pageant in New Orleans on January 11. Photo: AP
The pageant took place the same day a Russian missile killed more than 40 people in a residential building in Ukraine. The United Nations estimates upwards of 7,000 civilians have been killed since Russia invaded Ukraine 11 months ago.
Apanasenko indicated it was not just pageant organisers – whom she thanked for their support overall – who appeared oblivious.
“Some girls at Miss Universe did not know there was a war in Ukraine,” she said.
Apanasenko hoped Miss Russia would express sorrow for her country’s unprovoked invasion, but instead she approached her for a selfie “for what I think were propaganda purposes”.
It was the Ukrainian contestant’s hope she could use the high-profile pageant to speak at length about the war and found it “terribly painful” that was not the case.
She did send a message through her costume-segment gown, which included 16-foot-long (five-metre-long) wings inspired by the biblical archangel Michael, who defends goodness.
Apanasenko called the costume Miss Russia wore honouring the Russian Empire “absurd”.
In another sign of the times, pageant officials found themselves responding to what they called “absurd” allegations online claiming the outcome was rigged.
There were also claims that the pageant which made R’Bonney Gabriel of Texas Miss USA in October was fixed, according to Insider.
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