Bhubaneswar: He was in Ukraine’s Kyiv to film scenes for his documentary when Russia invaded the eastern European county. Days later, Hollywood actor-director Sean Penn found himself among thousands of refugees fleeing to Poland on foot.
“Myself & two colleagues walked miles to the Polish border after abandoning our car,” he wrote on his official Twitter handle on Monday.
In the picture, the 61-year-old Penn can be seen wearing a backpack and toting a piece of luggage on wheels beside a line of cars stretching into the distance “Almost all the cars in this photo carry women & children only, most without any sign of luggage, and a car their only possession of value,” he added.
Myself & two colleagues walked miles to the Polish border after abandoning our car on the side of the road. Almost all the cars in this photo carry women & children only, most without any sign of luggage, and a car their only possession of value. pic.twitter.com/XSwCDgYVSH
— Sean Penn (@SeanPenn) February 28, 2022
A spokesperson in Los Angeles, Mara Buxbaum, confirmed Reuters by email about Penn having “made it out of Ukraine safely.” She, however, declined to divulge details about his whereabouts or the circumstances of his departure from Ukraine.
He had initially visited Ukraine in November and interviewed Ukrainian political and military figures as well as journalists as part of the production. On the first day of Russia’s invasion, Penn was in Kyiv attending a press briefing at the office of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
On Saturday, the Oscar-winning actor, film director and social activist had asked the US to rescue Ukraine from the invasion. “Ukraine is the tip of the spear for the democratic embrace of dreams. If we allow it to fight alone, our soul as America is lost,” Penn wrote in a Twitter message Saturday.