Oscar winner Sean Penn meets troops in front-line Ukraine
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US actor Sean Penn (left) visiting soldiers of the 157th Separate Mechanised Brigade of Ukraine's armed forces.
PHOTO: AFP
- Sean Penn visited Ukrainian front-line troops in the Donetsk region, near Sloviansk, skipping the Oscars ceremony to show support.
- The 157th Separate Mechanised Brigade stated that Penn's visit was "inspiring" and showed Ukraine "are not alone".
- Penn, a vocal Ukraine advocate, also met with Andriy Yermak and is co-directing a documentary about President Zelensky.
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KYIV – American actor Sean Penn met front-line troops in Ukraine, pictures showed on March 18, the latest appearance in a surprise tour of the war-torn country after skipping the Academy Awards on March 15.
Images published by Ukraine’s 157th Separate Mechanised Brigade showed the Oscar winner standing in front of a sign for Sloviansk, a Ukrainian town about 20km from the front line with Russia, as well as meeting soldiers and signing an autograph in an undisclosed location.
The 65-year-old star scooped the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in the dystopian comedy One Battle After Another (2025), but was notably absent at the glitzy March 15 Hollywood ceremony held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
“Sean Penn, having skipped the Oscars ceremony and arrived in Ukraine, personally visited a combat unit of the 157th Separate Mechanised Brigade, which is carrying out combat missions in the Donetsk sector,” the brigade said on Facebook.
“Such meetings are inspiring and remind us that even in the most difficult times, we are not alone, and our bravery will not go unnoticed,” it added.
The brigade also published a photo showing Penn with Mr Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s former chief of staff who was ousted in 2025 amid a corruption probe.
Penn is a vocal advocate for Ukraine and has visited the country several times since Russia invaded in February 2022, including to co-direct a documentary about Mr Zelensky, whom he calls a friend.
The veteran performer was earlier gifted a symbolic version of the famous Oscar statuette made from the damaged metal of a train carriage hit in a Russian strike.
This video grab taken from handout footage filmed on March 16, 2026, and released by Ukrainian railway company Ukrzaliznytsia on March 17, 2026, shows US actor Sean Penn, who skipped the March 15 Oscars ceremony to visit Ukraine, being gifted a symbolic version of the famous statuette made from the damaged metal of a train carriage hit in a Russian strike in Kyiv.
PHOTO: AFP
Ukraine’s state rail group said on March 17 that it wanted to make sure Penn got his hands on the award – in one form or another – despite his trip to Kyiv.
“Sean Penn came to Ukraine and missed the Academy Awards – so Ukrainian railway gave him one of his own,” Ukrzaliznytsia said on X.
The company posted a video of its chief executive gifting Penn a silver statue in the shape of an Oscar carved from a flat piece of metal from a railway car damaged in a Russian attack, calling the statuette a symbol of resilience.
Penn had in 2022 gifted Mr Zelensky one of his real Oscar statues during a visit to Ukraine. He had won two previous ones for his roles in Mystic River (2003) and Milk (2008). AFP
