Sean Penn missed the Oscars for a trip to Ukraine.Image: keystone
March 18, 2026, 10:17 amMarch 18, 2026, 10:17 am
After being unable to accept his Oscar due to a visit to Ukraine, actor Sean Penn was presented with a replacement statue in the country.
Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, the CEO of the Ukrainian Railway Company, shared a clip on the X platform in which he presented the 65-year-old actor with a figure in the silhouette of the Oscar film award.
The material for this came from a train part that was damaged by Russia, Pertsovskyi said in the clip. “We could not leave our good friend and loyal Ukrainian railway passenger without an award,” he also wrote on X.
Penn thanked him for the “Eisens Oscar,” as the railway CEO called the statue. “We didn’t melt a weapon out of it,” the figure reads, according to a photo shared by Pertsovskyi
Penn missed the ceremony for his third Oscar in Los Angeles on Monday night (CET). The 65-year-old was named best supporting actor for his role in the political thriller “One Battle After Another”. It’s Sean Penn’s third Oscar.
Zelensky received Sean Penn at his official residence in Kyiv.Image: keystone
Reception by President Zelensky
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky received the actor at his official residence in Kiev. “Sean, thanks to you we know what a true friend of Ukraine is,” Zelensky wrote on social networks on Monday. He recalled that Penn was in Kiev in the first days of the war in February 2022. “And we know that you will continue to stand by our country and our people,” he concluded the post.
Ukraine has been defending itself against a Russian invasion with Western help for more than four years. (sda/dpa)