Inna Shevchenko

Inna Shevchenko is a Ukrainian feminist activist and the leader of international women's movement FEMEN, which often demonstrates topless against what they perceive as manifestations of patriarchy, especially dictatorship, religion, and the sex industry. Shevchenko has a higher profile than the other members of the group. She was the leader of the three FEMEN activists reputedly kidnapped and threatened by the Belarus KGB in 2011. She achieved attention in Ukraine by cutting down a 4-metre high Christian cross with a chainsaw in central Kyiv in 2012.

In 2013, Shevchenko was granted asylum in France, and now continues her activism by leading FEMEN France from a training base she has established in Paris.

In 2025, she authored A Letter From The East (Une Lettre de l'Est), a novel that draws from the testimonies of dozens of Ukrainian women returned from Russian captivity exploring the horrors of the war in Ukraine. The novel was awarded the 2025 Prix des Femmes de Lettres.

Early life Inna Shevchenko was born in Kherson near the Black Sea, on 23 June 1990. The 2004 Orange Revolution opened her eyes to politics and in the TV shows which pitted journalists against politicians, she said the journalists 'looked more intelligent so I wanted to be one'. although she is also fluent in Ukrainian, English and French.

Activism & FEMEN Early years in Ukraine

Shevchenko made contact with two leading FEMEN activists Anna Hutsol and Alexandra Shevchenko (no relation) through the social networking site vKontakte and joined FEMEN early in 2009. they initially protested on issues affecting woman students, but rapidly moved to demonstrating against the sexual exploitation of Ukrainian women. Inna Shevchenko first demonstrated with FEMEN on 23 May 2009 in Kyiv, against prostitution and under the banner, "Ukraine is not a Brothel", in collaboration with DJ Hell. Late in August 2009, Oksana Shachko became the first member of the group to bare her breasts during a protest; but not until 2010 did this become the usual tactic in FEMEN demonstrations, justified on the grounds that without the media attention generated by topless protests their message would not be heard. In debates within FEMEN over the ethics of topless protest, Inna Shevchenko at first opposed the tactic, then was persuaded of its validity.

Asylum in France

On 8 September 2012, Shevchenko cut down wooden crosses at GOGBOT festival in Enschede, the Netherlands, as a protest on the arrest of Pussy Riot., following her cross-chainsawing action in Kyiv in August.

18 September 2012, Shevchenko established a training facility for FEMEN France in Paris. In July 2013, Shevchenko was granted asylum in France.

In July 2013, Olivier Ciappa, who together with David Kawena designed a new French stamp depicting Marianne, stated on Twitter that Shevchenko had been the main inspiration for the depiction.

Public speaking

Shevchenko is a speaker at conferences and a columnist for the international press. She was a speaker at a debate on the freedom of speech in Copenhagen on 14 February 2015 with cartoonist Lars Vilks. She was speaking about an illusion that in Western Europe people can fully enjoy freedom of speech when a terrorist opened fire in the lobby of the cultural centre, where the debates took place.

Shevchenko's TEDxKalamata talk is entitled "I will not stop speaking out loud".

Writing She is a columnist for International Business Times Her articles were also published in The Guardian, The Huffington Post, and CNN. Together with other FEMEN activists, Shevchenko wrote FEMEN: Manifeste and Rebellion In 2017 Inna Shevchenko has published Anatomie de l'oppression (Anatomy of oppression) with Pauline Hillier in Edition du Seuil. In 2025 she authored A Letter from the East, a novel that draws from the lived experiences of Ukrainian women during Russian occupation. The novel was awarded the 2025 Prix des Femmes de Lettres.