While visiting Ukraine this week as a Unicef goodwill ambassador, Orlando Bloom had a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The Hollywood actress, 46, visited Ukraine to meet with the president, 45, and praised the country’s people for their “awe-inspiring” fortitude in the face of Russia’s aggression.
The celebrity traveled there for the first time since 2016 while serving as a goodwill ambassador for Unicef, a UN agency that works to protect children.
Kyiv, Irpin, and Demydiv were all places Bloom visited during his three days there.
In a meeting at the presidential palace on Sunday, Bloom told Zelensky his messaging since the war began was ‘reflected in [the Ukrainian people’s] courage and determination’.
He also stated the ‘world was watching’ after Russian President Vladimir Putin was charged with war crimes over the deportation of children.
Zelensky himself was an actor in Ukraine – playing a teacher who becomes president – before his career in politics.
The pair embraced upon meeting and shared an enthusiastic handshake before sitting down to discuss projects to help the children of Ukraine.
It comes after Zelensky was interviewed by Bear Grylls after the survival expert travelled to Ukraine.
‘It’s a serious business, getting to talk to him… He’s done a lot of interviews over Zoom before, but I wanted to see the real man, the guy away from the podium,’ Grylls, 48, revealed.
Grylls describes the president as ‘a real people person’: ‘He listens, he’s honest, he’s very human. He’s humble, too – he wanted to use an interpreter, even though his English is very good, but I said he should really try not to.
‘The fact that he sometimes isn’t speaking perfect English gives him a humility and a vulnerability, and you get a real insight into what he’s like as a human being.’