Filmmaker and actor Sean Penn is in Ukraine to continue work on a documentary about the ongoing Russian assault.
The Office of the President wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday that Penn attended press briefings, met with Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, and spoke to journalists and the military about the Russian invasion.
He was also there in late November to work on the project, which is being produced by VICE Studios. Photographs at the time showed him visiting the frontlines of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near the Donetsk region. A representative for Penn did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
As Newsweek reported, Penn arrived in Kyiv earlier in the week to meet with Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk and local journalists.
In a statement from Ukraine's government, Penn was thanked for his work writing, "The director specially came to Kyiv to record all the events that are currently happening in Ukraine and to tell the world the truth about Russia's invasion of our country. Sean Penn is among those who support Ukraine in Ukraine today. Our country is grateful to him for such a show of courage and honesty."
As the Guardian reported, the 61-year-old actor has put himself in the middle of a major news event multiple times in recent years. In 2020 he released a Discovery Plus documentary called "Citizen Penn" about the process of creating his non-profit after the devastating Haiti earthquakes in 2010. Then in January 2016, he published a controversial interview with Mexican drug kingpin Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán in Rolling Stone.