American actor Sean Penn has gifted one of his Oscar trophies to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a visit to the capital Kyiv.
Video posted on President Zelenskyy’s Telegram channel also showed the president awarding Mr.Penn Ukraine’s Order of Merit.
Sean Penn, who is known for his political activism as much as he is for his films, fled Ukraine in March while filming a documentary about the conflict. He later said he considered joining Ukrainian forces to fight against Russia.
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Penn won the Academy Awards for Best Actor category twice, the first in 2003 for Mystic River and again in 2008 for Milk.
The actor has been nominated three more times in the same category for 1995’s Dead Man Walking, 1999’s Sweet and Lowdown and 2001’s I Am Sam.
Kremlin officials had previously added Penn, and fellow actor Ben Stiller, to Russia’s “stop list”, meaning they have been banned from entering the country.
Zelenskyy also paid tribute to the presidents of the European Commission, the prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovenia, and the former British prime minister Boris Johnson during the ceremony.
Russia and some Western nations have been exchanging rounds of sanctions since the war in Ukraine began.
