‘Russian lives also matter’ – Lars von Trier

Denmark’s most famous film director has commented on the country's pledge of F-16s to Ukraine

The same Instagram account Danish film director Lars von Trier used to solicit a muse earlier this month has posted a message in response to Copenhagen’s promise to send fighter jets to Kiev.

“Russian lives matter also,” the Instagram post said in Danish, with an English translation appended in the caption. 

It was addressed to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, described as someone who, “like someone head over heels in love, posed in the cockpit of one of the scariest killing machines of our time, grinning from ear to ear.”

Frederiksen and Zelensky famously posed for the cameras inside an F-16 on Sunday. Denmark has promised Ukraine 19 of the US-made fighter jets.

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Earlier this month, the same Instagram account posted a short video of von Trier looking for a “girlfriend or muse.” The twice-divorced director spoke about having Parkinson’s, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and “at the moment controlled alcoholism,” but insisted that “on a good day, in the right company, I can be quite a charming partner.”

The 67-year-old von Trier is Denmark’s best-known filmmaker, famous for movies such as ‘Antichrist’, ‘Melancholia’, ‘Nymphomaniac Vols. I and II’, and ‘Dogville’.

Denmark and the Netherlands have led the push to arm Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, despite Russia’s warnings that this would escalate the conflict. Copenhagen has already started training some Ukrainian pilots, while the Dutch have pledged to deliver an unspecified number of the fighters at a future date, with Washington’s blessing.