KYIV, Ukraine — The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, is once again considering a bill that would decriminalize the creation and distribution of pornography in that country — an activity that currently carries a prison sentence of three to five years.
In May, the Verkhovna Rada rejected a similar bill, Draft law No. 12191, titled "On Amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine to Improve Certain Provisions on Criminal Offenses Against Public Order and Morality," which had been in the legislative pipeline since November 2024.
People’s Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak introduced both bills. He proposed the new version, Draft law No. 15294, in March, even before the previous attempt was defeated.
Like the earlier bill, the new version seeks to replace Ukraine’s existing law against pornography. The proposed Draft Law on Amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine to Strengthen Liability for the Production and Distribution of Child Pornography would specify and in some cases increase penalties for CSAM, material produced without participants’ consent, and distribution to minors — but consensual material featuring and distributed to adults would no longer be illegal.
A Wall Street Journal report published Saturday frames the initiative as an attempt to bolster funding for Ukraine's ongoing war with Russia. This latest push also comes amidst reports of increased enforcement of tax laws against Ukrainian content creators, as well as a scandal in which Ukrainian press police officials were accused of accepting bribes for turning a blind eye to pornography production and distribution.
The earlier proposal received only 207 votes out of a minimum 226 required for passage. The new bill has received stronger support, with 231 legislators supporting the proposal in its first roll-call vote.
Should the bill pass subsequent readings, it will go before President Volodymyr Zelensky for his signature. Last year, responding to an OnlyFans model’s decriminalization petition, Zelensky did not reveal his position on the issue, but only stated that he would wait for the legislative process to play out.
