President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with American Hollywood actor and director Sean Penn, who arrived in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy shared the news on Telegram and published photos of the meeting.
“Thanks to you, Sean, we know what a true friend of Ukraine is. You have been with Ukraine since the first day of the full-scale war. And today. And we know you will continue to stand with our country and our people,” Zelenskyy wrote.
As reported, Sean Penn received an Academy Award (Oscar) but did not attend the ceremony, as he travelled to Ukraine instead.
Sean Penn and Ukraine
- The actor has actively supported Ukraine since 2022. During this time, he has visited the country several times, and on one occasion even presented Volodymyr Zelenskyy with one of his Academy Award (Oscar) statuettes, saying it could be returned after Ukraine’s victory in the war.
- He worked on a film about Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s journey from comedian to president, which later evolved into a documentary about the war in Ukraine. It premiered at Berlin International Film Festival 2023.
- Following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Sean Penn said that Ukraine’s struggle is “the frontline of defending democratic values” and warned that if the world allows Ukraine to fight alone, it would be a moral defeat for the United States.
- He also appeared in the Ukrainian film anthology War Through the Eyes of Animals by Myroslav Slaboshpytskyy, receiving a symbolic fee of one dollar, as rules of the Screen Actors Guild do not allow actors to work entirely for free.
- Sean Penn has long been known for his civic and political activism. He opposed the Iraq War, helped victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, and founded a humanitarian organisation to assist people after the 2010 Haiti earthquake.