The Hollywood star and former UN Special Envoy made her second unannounced trip to Ukraine since the 2022 invasion, visiting children’s hospitals and maternity wards in the highly vulnerable city of Kherson.
November 6, 2025: Hollywood actress and humanitarian Angelina Jolie has made an unannounced and highly sensitive visit to Kherson, a frontline city in Southern Ukraine that faces daily bombardment from Russian forces. The surprise trip, reported by Ukrainian media on Wednesday, comes shortly after a series of drone strikes hit the area.
This marks Jolie’s second visit to the country since the full-scale Russian invasion began in 2022, following her previous trip to Lviv months after the conflict started.
Visiting Hospitals in a War Zone
Jolie, who served as a UN Special Envoy for Refugees from 2012 to 2022, focused her attention on the plight of civilians. Photographs circulating across social media showed the actress wearing a bulletproof vest with Ukrainian insignia as she toured local medical facilities.
According to former Kherson City Council member Vitalii Bohdanov, Jolie visited:
- A children’s hospital and spent time with young patients.
- A maternity hospital, speaking with doctors and mothers.
One striking image showed the Oscar winner outdoors wearing both armor and a helmet, underscoring the immediate danger in the area, which lies directly across the Dnieper River from Russian military positions.
Incident at the Checkpoint
The humanitarian mission was reportedly interrupted by an unusual incident involving a member of her entourage.
Ukrainian media reported that during the trip, a local bodyguard or driver accompanying Jolie’s motorcade was detained by military recruitment officers at a checkpoint in the neighboring Mykolaiv region. The man, reportedly a reserve officer, was allegedly handed a summons for military service.
The incident led to widespread media reporting that Jolie herself went to the territorial conscription office to personally intervene for the man’s release, though official sources from the Ukrainian Armed Forces later called the media reports “distorted” and confirmed they were investigating the details.
The humanitarian star’s visit, while not officially confirmed by the Ukrainian government, is seen as a significant show of solidarity, drawing international attention to a city that was briefly occupied by Moscow in 2022 and continues to suffer intense shelling.