Georges Biard / Wikimedia
Actress Angelina Jolie, UN special envoy for refugees, at Cannes 2013
Angelina Jolie’s humanitarian trip to war-torn Ukraine was interrupted by an intervention by military recruits at a checkpoint — who detained her driver and recruited him into the army.
The unannounced visit to Ukraine of the actress and humanitarian ambassador Angelina Jolie generated unexpected attention after several sources claimed that a member of his entourage was suddenly incorporated in the Ukrainian armed forces.
On Tuesday, the Tomb Raider star, who was traveling with , visited the cities of Kherson and Mykolaivboth on the front line of Ukrainian defense against Russia.
Wearing a bulletproof vest, the actress visited several medical facilities and met with local children and guardians. It was yours second move to the country since the large-scale invasion by Russia, in 2022. The first had been to the city of Lviv.
According to , local authorities stopped Jolie’s entourage at a checkpoint in the Mykolaiv region and detained one of the driversfor not being able to present the required documentationand turned him over to the local draft board.
A video circulating on Telegram appears to show Jolie arriving at the enlistment center, allegedly to provide support to the detained man.
A senior Ukrainian official confirmed that one of the members of Jolie’s entourage had a incident with local military recruiters at a checkpoint, but the authorities are still trying to find out exactly what happened.
The same person added that Jolie had not informed the government Ukrainian of his intention to visit the country and that will have entered on foot.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Army Land Forces published a four-paragraph statement with numerous details about the incident, confirming that the person recruited would be Jolie’s driverbut deleted the post and declared Politico that could neither confirm nor deny what happened.
The same military source stated that “the information being disseminated in the media is distorted. An investigation is underway to clarify all the circumstances.”
According to the UNIAN news agency, the driver is a Ukrainian citizen born in 1992 and officer in reserve, but without valid mobilization deferment.
UNIAN also reported that Jolie continued her visit after being informed about the situation. “Neither she nor her representatives influenced the work of employees at the recruitment office”, an unidentified source quotes the news outlet.
The detained driver must now join the Ukrainian Armed Forces under the current mobilization order.
In 2012, after a decade of service as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Angelina Jolie was named Special Envoy of High Commissioner António Guterresthe first person to assume this position in the organization.
In 2013, the actress, filmmaker and activist received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Awardconsidered a .
