The British publicity regulator has banned adverts by a dating site offering romance with "lonely Ukrainian women" as millions flee the conflict in their country.
The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) said there was “heightened sensitivity” about Ukraine amid the Russian special military operation there and sexual exploitation of Ukrainian women was now an “area of public concern”.
One advert on the Dorset Echo newspaper's website showed a woman in a revealing summer dress on a seaside balcony, above the text: "Ukranian [sic] Women. Meet Thousands of Lonely Ukrainian Women. Forget About Loneliness. Let Yourself be Happy".
Two more on the website of the pro-Scottish Nationalist Party daily The National read: “Connecting Singles Across the World to Their Ideal Partner…” while another under a different photo of a woman gives the web address ofSofiadate.com.
“We considered that the women depicted in the ads were shown in a way that was, at least partly, designed to titillate readers – the model in ads (a) and (b) wore a low-cut kimono-style robe, and the model in ad (c) wore a body-hugging midi dress,” the ASA said.
“We considered the ads’ focus on Ukrainian women dressed in the aforementioned manner, as well references to their loneliness, had the effect of highlighting their vulnerability and connecting it to their sexual appeal. For that reason, we concluded the ads were likely to cause serious offence.”
National and Newsquest Media, owners of the Dorset Echo, said that while the adverts made no reference to the conflict in Ukraine, did not take a partisan side and were not hostile to Ukrainians, they could have been inconsistent with their policy of refusing ads for prostitution and trafficking.
Sofiadate had taken out "ostensibly conventional dating ads, although potentially clumsily sexist in their portrayal of women from a male perspective," the publisher said.
The Cyprus-based site's homepage gives a list of its most popular categories with "Ukraine dating" at the top of the list and "Ukraine brides" not far behind.
"Ukrainian dating sites offer the best Ukrainian dating for anyone impressed by the stunning beauty of these women," the Ukraine dating page reads. "Any man would consider it an honor to get connected with a Ukrainian woman."
"A Ukrainian woman chooses online dating because it gives her an opportunity to go beyond the borders of her country searching for a serious relationship," the site tells would-be suitors, admitting that "Ukrainian singles prefer meeting men from other countries because they inspire more trust than men from their own state."
Concerns about sex trafficking of Ukrainian refugee women and the motives of those offering them a temporary home in the West have already been raised.
In May, The Sun reported the story of a British man who abandoned his girlfriend and two daughters to start a new relationship with the younger Ukrainian woman they had welcomed into their home less than two weeks earlier — quipping that it was "Lvov at first sight".
In June, Canadian media group Thomson Reuters and a British citizen helping find homes for refugees both reported major interest in Ukrainian women from men looking for casual sex or to recruit into prostitution, while in Sweden a sting operation against users of prostitutes found most were looking for Ukrainians.