Ben Stiller meets Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine on the occasion of World Refugee Day

Actor Ben Stiller met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday, during World Refugee Day.

Stiller is currently visiting Ukraine as a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador. Since Saturday, Stiller has traveled through Poland and Ukraine, meeting people who have been forced to flee their homes due to the current Russian invasion of Ukraine. On Monday, he visited the occupied settlements in the Kyiv region, including the residential areas of Kyiv.

According to a press release issued by Official Website As for Zelensky, Stiller and Ukrainian UNHCR representative Carolina Lindholm Billing visited Zelensky on Monday after their visit to Irbin to discuss their meetings with refugees.

“It is one thing to see this devastation on TV or on social networks. Another thing is to see everything with your own eyes,” Stiller said during the meeting. “This is much more shocking.”

“What I saw on Irben is definitely horrific,” Zelensky said, according to the press release. “But what’s worse is just imagining what’s happening in the settlements that are still under temporary occupation in the east.”

Stiller and Zelensky spent the meeting discussing the needs of those displaced by Russia’s invasion of the country in Ukraine and Poland, as well as how UNHCR and the Ukrainian government could work together to solve the refugee crisis. Since Russia began its invasion of neighboring Ukraine in late February, 7.7 million people have been reported to have been displaced from their homes, with women and children making up 90% of those forced to flee. In addition, according to the Ukrainian authorities, nearly 400,000 Ukrainian citizens have been forcibly deported to Russia since the start of the invasion.

Stiller and UNHCR also posted a video statement on Instagram regarding World Refugee Day, showing Stiller speaking from Kyiv.

“I meet people affected by war, and hear how it has changed their lives. War and violence are devastating people all over the world,” Stiller said in the video. “No one chooses to flee their homes. The search for safety is a right and it must be supported by everyone.”



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