"I'm not stopping anyone from losing their legs and doing the same thing": Oleksandr "Teren" Budko responds sharply to criticism from the military over his participation in The Bachelor

The main star of The Bachelor Season 13, a veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war and public figure Oleksandr "Teren" Budko, has responded sharply to criticism from the military over his participation in the romantic project. Some believe that the soldier is "playing showmanship" and accuse him of "parasitizing on the image of a veteran" as if to gain more media coverage.

"You can do it too. I'm not stopping anyone from losing their legs and doing the same thing," Budko said in an interview with Detector Media. "I don't intend to please everyone and I understand that I can never achieve this because there will always be someone who doesn't understand or approve of my activities. But even if I did it just for the sake of my popularity, what's wrong with that?"

Teren added that when his life is covered in the media, it means that the audience is interested in it, because he does not personally ask to "make a story about himself". "Thus, becoming popular just for the sake of popularity is not my goal. I am trying to show that being a veteran with an injury is not the end of the world and not the end of life," the public figure explained.

The day before, Oleksandr Budko showed what horrible messages he received because of his participation in The Bachelor. According to the military man, he knew he could become a target, but he did not expect to see such hateful comments. "People who were thanking me yesterday and writing messages with delight, asking me to take a photo, are now tearing me to pieces because their views on life are simply different from mine," he wrote.

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