More than three years after the start of the war, Angelina Jolie is back in Ukraine. The Oscar-winning actor and director went to Kherson, in the south of the country, to visit a maternity hospital and children’s hospital, once again demonstrating her humanitarian commitment. In April 2022, Jolie had already visited Lviv, in the west of the country, to meet people displaced by the war.
On Wednesday, Jolie, who was a United Nations special envoy for refugees between 2012 and 2022, renewed her commitment to the cause. On social media, local official Vitaly Bogdanov shared photos of the star wearing a bulletproof vest emblazoned with the logo of the Legacy of War Foundation, an organization helping civilians affected by the conflict.
Jolie arrived in Ukraine as part of a humanitarian aid program and has visited a number of medical facilities in the region, including a maternity hospital and a children’s hospital, reported the Kyiv Post, citing local media and Telegram channels. According to Politico, a senior official said that Jolie had not informed the Ukrainian government of her visit and entered the country on foot.
The official told Politico that a member of Jolie’s team had “an incident” at a checkpoint with local military recruiters. The Ukrainian Ground Forces released a statement saying that Jolie’s driver had been detained at a checkpoint and was in the process of being drafted into the army, but later deleted it and told Politico they could neither confirm nor deny details of what happened.
The visit comes a week after Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced a “deliberate Russian attack” on a children’s hospital in Kherson, which injured nine people, including four children.
Originally published in Vanity Fair France
