Overview
- Penn won Best Supporting Actor for One Battle After Another but did not attend the ceremony, as Kieran Culkin accepted the award on his behalf with a brief quip.
- The Ukrainian presidency released a photo of Penn meeting Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who publicly called the actor a "true friend of Ukraine."
- Ukraine’s state railway posted video of Penn stepping off a train in central Kyiv and said the trip was kept secret until the last moment.
- AFP images distributed by Getty showed Penn in Kyiv on March 16, providing independent visual confirmation of his location.
- The trip extends Penn’s sustained engagement with Ukraine, including multiple visits, the 2023 documentary Superpower, and lending an Oscar to Zelenskyy in 2022.