Sean Penn has awarded Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky his Oscar, with orders to return him to Malibu when his country emerges victorious from the war with Russia.
The actor and director, 62, has been a vocal supporter of Ukraine since the war broke out in February and had already traveled to Kiev twice this year prior to today’s trip.
When he returned to the Ukrainian capital to see Zelensky, whom he previously called his “great friend,” Penn was filmed taking one of his Academy Awards out of a bag and placing it on the Ukrainian president’s desk.
“This is for you,” the actor told Zelensky. “It’s just symbolic folly, but knowing this is here with you will make me feel better and stronger for the fight…
“If you win, bring it back to Malibu. I’ll feel a lot better knowing a piece of me is here,” he concluded.
A well-known actor and comedian before his entry into politics, Zelensky was clearly flattered and gratefully accepted the Oscar statuette, describing it as a “great honour.”
He was later seen carefully placing the gold trophy on the mantelpiece in his presidential office.
Zelensky, in turn, presented Penn with a Ukrainian Order of Merit to thank him “for his sincere support and significant contribution to the popularization of Ukraine in the world.”
Sean Penn (L) has awarded Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (R) his Oscar, with orders to return him to Malibu when his country emerges victorious from the war with Russia.
This photo, taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service on November 8, 2022, shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (R) meeting with American actor Sean Penn (L) after receiving his Oscar statuette during their meeting in Kiev.
Volodymyr Zelensky (2nd-R) is seen in the Ukrainian capital with American actor Sean Penn (2nd-L) after their meeting in Kiev
Penn, who won two best actor academy awards for his performances in Mystic River (2003) and Milk (2008), is one of several prominent American actors to have made the journey to Ukraine since Russian tanks rolled across the border on February 24. . .
In September, he was banned from entering Russia when Vladimir Putin’s State Department has added him, along with Ben Stiller, to a list of US citizens banned from the country for his open criticism of the conflict.
Penn was in Ukraine to shoot a documentary when Russia invaded and was forced to flee, entering Poland like many Ukrainian refugees.
He has since expressed great admiration for Zelensky and has also admitted that he had considered taking up arms to fight alongside the Ukrainian military as it continues to fight Russian forces in southeastern Ukraine.
‘Part of what makes’ [Zelensky] so special is that courage, he is the face of so many Ukrainians. I mean, this is leadership that we strive for, this is freedom of thought and true leadership that is especially moving,” Penn said earlier this year.
‘If you’ve been to Ukraine’ [fighting] must go through your head. And you kind of think what century this is? Because I was at the gas station in Brentwood the other day and I’m now thinking about taking up arms against Russia? What the hell is going on?’
Stiller, meanwhile, traveled to Ukraine this summer in his role as goodwill ambassador for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Millions of Ukrainians have fled the fighting.
The star of Zoolander, Meet the Parents and Dodgeball, told Zelensky, “It’s a great honor for me. It’s really great. You are my hero,” and also toured several neighborhoods near the war-stricken Ukrainian capital.
Sean Penn, 62, said earlier this year he was “considering taking up arms against Russia” while at the gas station in Brentwood, California shortly after returning from the war-torn country.
Hollywood actor and goodwill ambassador Ben Stiller meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continued in June in Kiev, Ukraine
Stiller met Zelensky after walking through a bombed-out neighborhood in Ukraine in June. During their meeting, Stiller told Zelenskey that he was inspired by him, ‘for what you have done in this country and for the world’
Russian and Ukrainian forces remain mired in a stalemate in much of southeastern Ukraine.
Zelensky today hinted at the possibility of peace talks with Russia – a shift from his previous refusal to negotiate with Vladimir Putin.
The Ukrainian president urged the international community to “force Russia into genuine peace talks” and listed his usual conditions for dialogue: the return of all occupied territories of Ukraine, compensation for the damage caused by the war and the prosecution of war crimes.
The announcement marked a change in rhetoric for Zelensky, who in September signed a decree declaring “the inability to hold talks” with Putin.
But since his terms appear to be non-starters for Moscow, his apparent willingness to reopen communications with the Kremlin is unlikely to yield any results.
In Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, where Russians are struggling to take full control, three civilians have been killed and seven others injured in shelling in Moscow in the past 24 hours, according to Donetsk governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.
Kyrylenko said the fatalities occurred in the city of Bakhmut, a prime target of the Russian offensive in Donetsk, and the city of Krasnohorivka. Ukraine’s deputy defense minister last week described the Bakhmut area as “the epicenter” of fighting in eastern Ukraine.
Elsewhere, two civilians were seriously injured by unexploded mines in the northeastern region of Kharkov, where Kiev’s forces recaptured large swaths of territory in September, Kharkov governor Oleh Synehubov said.
In the partially occupied Kherson region to the south, where Ukrainian forces are conducting a successful counter-offensive, Russian-installed authorities said they have “completed” measures to evacuate residents in anticipation of the expected Ukrainian advance.
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