Sean Penn skipped the Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday to travel to Ukraine, where he was presented with an alternative Oscar made from a damaged Ukrainian railway carriage. The flat, silver statue was given to him by Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, CEO of Ukrainian railways, who said: “You’re missing Oscars, so we made this one. It’s not golden but it’s very real and from the bottom of our hearts.”
Penn won his third Oscar for best supporting actor for his role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s film One Battle After Another, which also won best director and best picture. His absence went unexplained on the night, but on Monday it emerged that he had flown to Ukraine late last week and was photographed in central Kyiv.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a picture of the two sitting together in his office. In 2022, Penn loaned one of his Oscars to the president, saying: “This is for you. It’s just a symbolic silly thing, but if I know this is here with you then I’ll feel better and stronger for the fight. When you win, bring it back to Malibu.”
Penn has visited Ukraine frequently since Russia’s invasion four years ago and made a documentary about Zelenskyy in 2023. He also won a Bafta for One Battle After Another in February but was absent from that ceremony as well.
