Sean Penn Abandons Car In Ukraine & Walks Miles To Poland Border

Sean Penn has fled Ukraine.

The actor and documentary maker was recently in the war-torn country to film a doco about the Russian invasion.

CNN previously reported that Penn was attending press conferences and met with President Volodymyr Zelensky as Russia began its invasion of the former Soviet country.

According to a formal Facebook post from the government of Ukraine, Penn was in Kiev to “tell the world the truth about Russia’s invasion of our country.”

Penn visited visited Ukraine in November 2021, and visited with the country’s officials back then, Variety reported.

At the time, photos of his trip were released by the Ukrainian Joint Forces Operation Press Service. Preparations for the filming of the documentary have been on since then. It’s a Vice Studios production being made in association with Vice World News and Endeavor Content.

Penn said on Monday, February 28, that he left Ukraine on foot.

The actor explained that he and two colleagues had abandoned their car on the side of the road and walked miles to the Polish border.

Taking to Twitter he wrote, “Myself & 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 & children only, most without any sign of luggage, and a car their only possession of value.”

According to HUFFPOST, hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled Ukraine into neighboring countries. At least 280,000 have entered Poland, mostly women and children. Ukrainian men age 18-60 must remain to fight.

Penn’s contributions to Ukraine have been praised by the Ukrainian president’s office. The actor met with deputy prime minister, journalists and military personnel.

“Sean Penn demonstrates the courage that many others, especially western politicians lack,” President Zelensky’s office wrote on Facebook. “The director specially came to Kiev 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.”

Multiple people commented on Penn’s Twitter post.

“I could disagree with Mr. Penn about a lot of things. But his last days in Ukraine are ultimate proof of him being a honourable man,” one person wrote.

Another replied, “Please document what u can on the border and show it to the world. Poland helping politically and man-to-man is being marginalized by mainstream media. It’s role and help isn’t being showed fairly, when we can be next in escalation ladder. Thx 4 all and 👊🏻.”

This is not the first time Penn has gone and looking for trouble. He has been both lauded and criticized for putting himself at the center of debatable issues.

Back in 2015, he went and interviewed the drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán for an issue of Rolling Stone. The article did not go down well, and later Penn admitted that it failed because it was not able to spark a debate, in what he felt was America’s role in the drug-related street violence