Hollywood celebrities speak out

LOS ANGELES • Hollywood celebrities with connections to Ukraine have spoken out about the country's ongoing invasion by Russia.

Resident Evil star Milla Jovovich, who was born in the capital of Kyiv in 1975 when it was still under Soviet control, said she was "heartbroken and dumbstruck" over the events of the past week.

"My blood and my roots come from both Russia and Ukraine. I am torn in two as I watch the horror unfolding, the country being destroyed, families being displaced, their whole life lying in charred fragments around them," she wrote on Instagram last Friday night.

The 46-year-old, whose breakout role was in science-fiction blockbuster The Fifth Element (1997), left the Soviet Union with her family in 1980 and eventually settled in Los Angeles. She became a naturalised American citizen in 1994.

Like Jovovich, actress Mila Kunis was born in Soviet-era Ukraine and left as a child to settle in Los Angeles with her family.

The 38-year-old, who shot to fame as Jackie Burkhart on comedy series That '70s Show (1998 to 2006), has yet to speak publicly about the current crisis. But her husband Ashton Kutcher - who played her love interest Michael Kelso on the American comedy - tweeted "I stand with Ukraine" last Thursday.

Meanwhile, American actress Hayden Panettiere, 32, who shares a seven-year-old daughter with her ex-fiance, Ukrainian former boxer Wladimir Klitschko, urged her fans to "stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with the people of Ukraine".

In her Instagram post last Friday afternoon, the Heroes (2006 to 2010) and Nashville (2012 to 2016) actress said she was praying for family, friends and everyone else fighting in Ukraine.

"I have personally witnessed the strength of the Ukrainian people who fought so hard for their independence and have continued to passionately defend their country over the years," she wrote.

She directed fans to follow Klitschko and his brother Vitali - who is the mayor of Kyiv - for updates.

Panettiere also clarified in a comment that her daughter Kaya is safe and not in Ukraine.

Klitschko, 45, had enlisted in the country's reserve army earlier this month. Last Saturday, the former world champion made an appeal to the international community "to act now to stop Russian aggression".

Separately, the organisers of the Eurovision Song Contest announced that Russia would not be allowed to take part in this year's event due to take place in Italy in May.

"The decision reflects concern that in the light of the unprecedented crisis in Ukraine, the inclusion of a Russian entry in this year's contest would bring the competition into disrepute," said the European Broadcasting Union in a statement.