EXCLUSIVE: On February 24, 2022 Sean Penn and his documentary filmmaking team got up before dawn in Kyiv in anticipation of a planned interview with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Suddenly, explosions shattered the quiet and missile fire turned the darkened sky to malevolent orange. Russia’s full-scale attack on its neighbor had begun — what President Vladimir Putin later that day euphemistically dubbed a “special military operation.” Experts widely predicted Kyiv would fall within days and Zelenskyy would perish or flee his country (he was offered passage out by the Biden administration).
Neither happened. On the one-year anniversary of the invasion, Penn and Aaron Kaufman, directors of the documentary Superpower, are reflecting on Ukraine’s response to a war of annihilation and Pres.
Zelenskyy’s stunning leadership. “Well, obviously, I share the broad view that his is a historic profile in courage,” Penn tells Deadline regarding Zelenskyy, “and I’m always mindful, as he would be, to parallel that with…that he is a leader who has coalesced an entire country of heroes.
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