Volkswacht Bodensee - Oscar winner Sean Penn skips ceremony to visit Kyiv

An AFP reporter saw the Mystic River star exiting a black car in central Kyiv earlier Monday, wearing sunglasses and carrying a box of cigarettes.

Penn -- a vocal advocate for Ukraine who had visited the country several times -- on Sunday won his third acting Oscar but was not at the ceremony.

"We can say that he's in Ukraine, but it's his personal visit; that's how he sees it, that he needs to be in Ukraine," a senior Ukrainian official told AFP, adding: "He just wants to support Ukraine."

The official said Penn -- who co-directed a 2023 documentary about Volodymyr Zelensky -- is expected to meet the Ukrainian president later on Monday.

A second source told AFP that the actor is also "planning to go to the front" in eastern Ukraine.

The film, an admiring portrait of Zelensky about his rise from comedian to war leader when Russia invaded in 2022, premiered at the Berlin film festival in 2023.

Through their interviews, Penn and Zelensky built up what they both called a close friendship.

In 2025, Penn and rock star Bono made an impassioned plea for the West to stand by Ukraine at the Cannes film festival, posing for pictures on the red carpet with Ukrainian soldiers.

G.Haefliger--VB