Jessica Chastain took to Twitter on Thursday to share footage she captured during her humanitarian trip to Ukraine after visiting the war-ravaged but tireless country in early August.
“It took me a few weeks to process everything I saw from my trip to Kiev,” says the 45-year-old actress. wrote in the tweet prior to the montage of about 1 minute.
“We landed in Poland, drove for 4 hours and then took the train for another 11 hours. I was nervous and the length of the journey gave me time to calm myself,” she added of the complex travel logistics.
The video opens with Chastain driving a car in Kiev with an unseen companion while reading a series of war statistics from her phone: “So the number of refugees from Ukraine now stands at 5.1 million who have left for the countries of the European Union. “And another 7.7 million who are internally displaced. The population of Ukraine before the world was 44 million,” she says.
As she talks, the images change to show them driving past entire city blocks destroyed by Russian bombing.
“War crimes have resulted in the deaths of 6,710 civilians, including 359 children. 8,741 civilians, including 700 children, were injured,” she continues in a voiceover.
Finally, the car stops at Ohmatdyt, which is considered the largest children’s hospital in Ukraine and is still operational until more than six months into the war. (Information on how to donate to the hospital can be found here.)
Chastain wrote about the visit in a follow-up tweet“One of the experiences of this life-changing journey was my visit to the children’s hospital: Ohmatdyt. I had the chance to meet incredible kids and the director, Volodymyr Zhovnir. The children amazed me with their hope and strength.”
A third and last tweet read: “Many had been driven from their homes and spent months in hospital. There is a huge humanitarian crisis going on in Ukraine. We must not forget the innocent victims of senseless acts of violence. I am grateful to have met these sweet little children with big, brave hearts.”
In the video, the “Zero Dark Thirty” actress is next seen with some of the kids, one of whom gives her a drawing of a bicycle, whose basket is full of 3D construction paper flowers.
The footage ends with Chastain holding the artwork on her lap as her car drives away.
During the trip, Chastain also met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who inspired and inspired the country’s citizens and international onlookers by refusing offers to be evacuated following the Russian invasion of his country in February 2022.
Zelensky has since remained on the front lines in the fight against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and posts regular updates on his Twitter.