In bed with the Ukrainian president: Czech designer sells pillows with Zelenskiy's face

A Czech designer has come up with a novel way to raise money for Ukrainians suffering from the war in their country - making pillows bearing the portrait of their president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who he says has become a sex symbol for some.

Zelenskiy, tired, unshaven but defiant in his trademark green T-shirt, has become the face of Ukraine's resistance to Russia's invasion, rallying his compatriots from his bunker in Kyiv in daily broadcasts on social media.

"It was the atmosphere around the president of Ukraine, where a lot of people, mostly of the fairer sex, said he is a new sex symbol. So I thought this thing, that I could make a pillow, that it would look like he was lying in the bed with someone having the pillow next to him." designer Tomas Brinek told Reuters on Thursday (March 17) in Prague.

Brinek, who runs a satirical Instagram channel called TMBK which has more than 540,000 followers and usually pokes fun at politicians, said his limited edition of hand-made pillows has attracted more than 2,000 orders and raised some 420,000 Czech crowns (18,900 U.S. dollars) for a charity helping Ukrainians affected by the war. Brinek said that he now planned to make another batch because of strong interest.

The Czech Republic has sent tens of millions of dollars worth of aid to Ukraine and has so far taken in some 270,000 refugees, mostly women and children, fleeing the war.

Thousands of people have been killed and more than 3 million have fled to neighboring countries since Moscow launched what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine on February 24.