Ben Stiller, Angelina Jolie, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain are among the celebrities who visited Ukraine during the Russian invasion.
The list also includes Hispanic-American chef and restaurateur Jose Andres, who was on the ground as part of his humanitarian organization World Central Kitchen, feeding Ukrainians along the borders.
Many of the A-listers traveled to Kyiv to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the country’s defense ministry thanked those “who visited us despite the danger.”
While Andres has a clear mission, others want to raise awareness of the nation’s plight.
Other stars have lent a hand from afar, like Hollywood power couple Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher, who also started a GoFundMe that raised nearly $37 million for refugees earlier this year. Kunis was born in Ukraine and moved to the United States when he was 7 years old.
British actor Benedict Cumberbatch hosted a refugee family at his home while Leonardo DiCaprio donated $10 million while many other celebrities donated money to various charities.
Here we take a look at some of these stars’ efforts in Ukraine.
Sean Penn
Sean Penn is one of the most vocal Hollywood stars. The day after Russia invaded Ukraine, the 21-gram actor traveled there to continue work on a documentary about the war.
The Office of the President in Ukraine confirmed that Penn had attended press conferences, met with Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk and discussed the war with journalists and military personnel.
Days later he found himself among thousands of refugees fleeing to Poland and joining the exodus on foot.
Me and two colleagues walked miles to the Polish border after leaving our car on the side of the road. Almost all of the cars in this photograph carry only women and children, most with no sign of luggage, and a car is their only possession of value. pic.twitter.com/XSwCDgYVSH
— Sean Penn (@SeanPenn) February 28, 2022
Penn, 61, posted a photo to Twitter of himself carrying a backpack and wheeling luggage along a road alongside a line of cars stretching into the distance.
He also made headlines again in March when he said he would destroy his Oscars if Zelenskyy weren’t invited to speak at the Oscars (he wasn’t, and as far as we know, he hasn’t).
Jose Andres
Early in the crisis, Andres went to Ukraine’s borders to help feed refugees as part of his nonprofit World Central Kitchen, who benefited from a $100 million grant from Jeff Bezos, which the chef received in 2021 for his humanitarian work received. The organization has served millions of meals to date.
On Thursday, he tweeted a photo of himself with Zelenskyy and wrote: “Good meeting today about @WCKitchen’s humanitarian work in @ukraine helping displaced people and refugees since the first day of this war.
“He [Zelenskyy] thanked the 5,000+ Ukrainians who brought a plate of food back then #ChefsForUkraine 130 million meals! Ukrainians feed Ukrainians!”
Angelina Jolie
The actress and UN special envoy for refugees is a well-known humanitarian, so it’s perhaps no surprise that she was among the first to travel to Ukraine.
In April, Angelina Jolie visited the city of Lviv, went to a bakery and the train station to meet some of the displaced.
During the visit to the ward, Jolie met volunteers who told her how each of the psychiatrists on duty spoke to about 15 people a day.
“They must be in shock … I know how trauma affects children, I know someone showing how important they are, how important their voices are, I know how healing that is for them,” she said.
She also posed for photos with the volunteers and some of the children.
Ben Stiller
In June, Ben Stiller, a comedy actor and humanitarian envoy, met with refugees and officials in Ukraine, including Zelensky, as part of his World Refugee Day visit.
“It’s a great honor for me,” Stiller told the Ukrainian President at a meeting in Kyiv. “It’s really wonderful. You are my hero.”
The Zoolander star is a United Nations goodwill ambassador and had previously visited Ukrainian refugees in Poland and said he wanted to show solidarity with those in Warsaw and around the world.
“Everyone has the right to seek safety. Whoever, wherever and whenever,” he said.
Liev Schreiber
In May, Ray Donovan star Liev Schreiber, who has Ukrainian roots, met people in bomb shelters and co-founded BlueCheck Ukraine, a group that aims to review and accelerate financial support from NGOs.
He went to Lviv but said he only told his immediate family he had been there after he returned because he knew “I was a lot safer than they thought,” according to Screen Daily.
Last month he spoke about his new fundraising network at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in Prague. “I left with the expectation that I would have a huge garbage bag and I would just fill it with money because I’m saving for Ukraine,” he said. “What actually happened is that people came up to me and asked how they could request donations from BlueCheck.”
Jessica Chastain
Last week, actress Jessica Chastain met Zelenskyy in Kyiv and visited a children’s hospital.
Her visit came as the White House and the UN urged Russia to halt military operations near nuclear power plants in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy thanked Chastain for her support in a Telegram post. “For us, such celebrity visits are extremely valuable,” he wrote.
“Thanks to this, the world will hear, know and understand even more the truth about what is happening in our country.”
Chastain’s trip comes after Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska asked members of the US Congress to send more military aid to her country. Zelenskyy’s wife told stories of women and children killed by Russian forces to illustrate the brutality of the war.
Scroll through the gallery below to see some of the latest photos from Ukraine
Updated August 12, 2022 at 8:22 am
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