Two-time academy award-winning actor Sean Penn has become the latest celebrity to flee war-torn Ukraine. Penn abandoned his car and walked miles to reach the polish border to escape the war.
“Myself and two colleagues walked miles to the Polish border after abandoning our car on the side of the road. Almost all the cars in this photo carry women and children only, most without any sign of luggage, and a car their only possession of value,” Penn tweeted.
Penn posted a picture carrying luggage to flee the war-torn country. However, he did not detail why he was in Ukraine.
Co-founder of CORE, a global response organization supporting underserved communities after the crisis, the American actor has won two Academy Awards, for his roles in the mystery drama Mystic River (2003) and the biopic Milk (2008).
The 61-year-old actor played a lead in the 1995 movie `Dead Man Walking‘ for which he earned his first Academy Award nomination and the Best Actor Award at the Berlin Film Festival. Penn received another two Oscar nominations for Woody Allen‘s comedy-drama Sweet and Lowdown (1999) and the drama I Am Sam (2001), before winning his first Academy Award for Best Actor in 2003 for Mystic River and the second one in 2008 for Milk. He has also won a Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival for the Nick Cassavetes-directed She’s So Lovely (1997), and two Best Actor Awards at the Venice Film Festival for the indie film Hurlyburly (1998) and the drama 21 Grams (2003).
In addition to his film work, Penn has engaged in political and social activism, including his criticism of the George W. Bush administration,
Penn, however, drew flak from some netizens who called him out for his association with Venezuelan ruler Hugo Chavez. “Sean Penn actively campaigned with tyrant Hugo Chavez which eventually caused Venezuela’s total collapse, thousands died, even more starved. The country is still in ruins. After the destruction, Penn just went about his business like he wasn’t personally responsible,” said a user.
More than 660,000 people, mostly women, and children have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries in the last six days since Russia invaded, the U.N. refugee agency said on Tuesday.
Shabia Mantoo, the spokesperson of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told a briefing in Geneva there were reports of people waiting for up to 60 hours to enter Poland, while queues at the Romanian border are up to 20 km long.
