Sean Penn walks to Poland, describes mass exodus of Ukrainian refugees
Actor Sean Penn, who was filming a documentary in Ukraine when Russia invaded the country last week, has said he and several members of his film crew witnessed a harrowing scene as they walked “miles” to the country’s border with Poland.
Along the route, the “Dead Man Walking” star said he and his colleagues encountered long lines of cars idling on the roadway. The vehicles were filled with women and children who were trying to flee the country as Russia escalated its attacks on the capital Kyiv.
“Myself & two colleagues walked miles to the Polish border after abandoning our car on the side of the road,” Penn wrote on Twitter Monday evening.
“Almost all the cars in this photo carry women & children only, most without any sign of luggage, and a car their only possession of value,” he continued.
The post included a photo of Penn walking along a highway while pulling a taped-up suitcase and toting a backpack. A queue of vehicles stretched into the distance to his right.
The two-time Oscar winner did not say why he and his crew had to abandon their car.
Penn was in Ukraine last Thursday working on a documentary about heightened tensions between Kyiv and Moscow when Russian troops launched an artillery bombardment and began crossing the border into the former Soviet state.
Later that day, he was seen attending a briefing at the Presidential Office in Kyiv and had a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials, according to Instagram postings.
In a statement to The Post last week, Penn called on America and nations around the world to stand with Ukraine.
“Already a brutal mistake of lives taken and hearts broken, and if he doesn’t relent, I believe Mr. Putin will have made a most horrible mistake for all of humankind,” Penn said at the time.
“President Zelensky and the Ukrainian people have risen as historic symbols of courage and principle. Ukraine is the tip of the spear for the democratic embrace of dreams. If we allow it to fight alone, our soul as America is lost.”
Penn has a habit of traveling to violent and disaster-hit parts of the world. He was spotted in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Haiti after an earthquake struck the island in 2010.
In 2015, Penn traveled to Mexico to interview notorious drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera for Rolling Stone magazine months before his capture.
