Angelina Jolie makes surprise visit to Ukraine, meeting children injured in Russian missile attack
Angelina Jolie made a surprise visit to Lviv, Ukraine, meeting children who were injured in a Russian missile attack on the Kramatorsk railway station, according to Maksym Kozytskyy, governor of Lviv Regional State Administration.
Kozytskyy shared a videos and photos of Jolie — a special envoy to the UN's refugee agency, UNHCR — via Telegram. The governor said Jolie was "very moved" by the children's stories and that "one girl was even able to privately tell Ms. Jolie about her dream."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the April 8 strike on the train station in eastern Ukraine amounted to another war crime for an international tribunal to consider. At least 52 people were killed.
Jolie also visited a boarding school and spoke to students, promising to visit again, Kozytskyy said. She met with volunteers who provide medical and psychological assistance at the main railway station in Lviv. The governor said many people who saw the Hollywood star in Lviv couldn't believe it was her, "But since February 24 [the start of the Russian invasion], Ukraine has show the world that we have a lot of incredible things."
Several people spotted Jolie when she was out in Lviv. One video from a bystander shows her visiting a cafe; another showed her speaking with Ukrainians on the street.
⚡️ Actress and filmmaker Angelina Jolie was spotted at a cafe in western Ukrainian city of Lviv on April 30.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) April 30, 2022
Jolie is a special envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Video: Maya Pidhoretska via Facebook. pic.twitter.com/CBtR4HBMNR
Before becoming a special envoy representing UNHCR, Jolie served as a goodwill ambassador for the agency from 2001 to 2012 and has carried out nearly 60 field missions, according to the UN.
In March, Jolie traveled to Yemen as a UNHCR special envoy, visiting a settlement where 130 families live after being displaced by the conflict there. "Only 20 of them receiving any food aid at all — and then, it was only when funding is available," Jolie wrote in a statement about her visit. She also visited a school and another site for displaced families.
This weekend, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also visited Ukraine and Poland, becoming the most senior American lawmaker to visit Ukraine since the war began more than two months ago.