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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Charlotte Everett

Sean Penn hands over Oscar to Zelensky and says he can keep it 'until Ukraine's victory'

Sean Penn has handed over his Oscar to Volodymyr Zelensky and says he can keep it 'until Ukraine's victory'.

The actor has told the Ukrainian President to bring the Oscar back to Malibu when Ukraine are victorious in the war with Russia.

The 62-year-old has been a vocal supporter of Ukraine since war broke out back in February and had already travelled to Kyiv twice this year ahead of his most recent trip.

When he returned to the Ukrainian capital, he referred to Zelensky as his 'great friend'.

He was seen taking one of his awards out of a bag and placing it on the Ukrainian president's desk.

Sean Penn said to return the award to Malibu (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Sean said: "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. I'll feel much better knowing a piece of me is here."

Zelensky was flattered by the gift and accepted the Oscar statuette as he described it as a 'great honour'.

He was then seen carefully placing the golden trophy on the mantelpiece in his presidential office.

Zelensky followed this up by presenting Sean with a Ukrainian Order of Merit to thank him 'for his sincere support and significant contribution to the popularisation of Ukraine in the world'.

Sean has visited Kyiv multiple times (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Sean, who won a pair of Best Actor academy awards for his performances in Mystic River (2003) and Milk (2008), is one of several US actors to have made the journey to Ukraine since the war began.

He was then banned from entering Russia in September when Vladimir Putin's foreign ministry added him, along with Ben Stiller, to a list of US citizens barred from the country due to his overt criticism of the conflict.

Penn was in Ukraine recording a documentary when Russia invaded and was forced to flee, crossing into Poland like many other Ukrainian refugees.

Sean said he considered fighting alongside the Ukrainian military (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

He has expressed great admiration for Zelensky, and also said he considered fighting alongside the Ukrainian military.

According to MailOnline Sean said: "Part of what makes [Zelensky] so particularly extraordinary is that courage, he's the face of so many Ukrainians. I mean this is leadership we aspire to, this is freedom of thought and true leadership that mostly is just so moving.

"If you've been in Ukraine [fighting] has to cross your mind. And you kind of think what century is this? Because I was at the gas station in Brentwood the other day and I'm now thinking about taking up arms against Russia? What the f*** is going on?"

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