Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Praises Sean Penn as a ‘True Friend’ After Skipping Oscars

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy heaped praise on Sean Penn just one day after the One Battle After Another star was a no-show at the 98th Academy Awards, where he won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

On Monday, March 16, Zelenskyy, 48, took to X where he shared a photo of himself sitting down for a conversation with Penn, 65. Although he did not mention Penn’s Academy Award win, Zelenskyy talked about his continued support for the Ukrainian people amid their ongoing war with Russia.

“Sean, thanks to you, we know what a true friend of Ukraine is,” the political leader wrote. “You have stood with Ukraine since the first day of the full-scale war. This is still true today. And we know that you will continue to stand with our country and our people.”

According to Entertainment Weekly, Penn and Zelenskyy have been friends for years. In 2023, Penn co-directed a documentary with Aaron Kaufman called Superpower, which covers the now-president’s rise to power in Ukraine during the country’s invasion by Russia.

The New York Times reports that Penn skipped the 2026 Oscars — where he won for his role in One Battle After Another — in order to pay a visit to Ukraine. His absence makes sense given that he has been highly critical of the Academy in the past.

“The Academy have exercised really extraordinary cowardice when it comes to being part of the bigger world of expression, and in fact, have largely been part of limiting the imagination and very limiting of different cultural expressions,” Penn said during a press conference at the Marrakech Film Festival in 2024, per Variety.