Did she bail out the bodyguard or was he sent to the front?
When Hollywood’s Angelina Jolie went for a surprise trip to Ukraine, it wasn’t exactly a walk in the park. She came face-to-face with the harsh realities of war, including the looming threat of forced conscription. Rumors flew that she pocketed $20 million from USAID for her visit, though no one could back that up.
On her 2022 stop in Lvov, air raid sirens lent an unexpected photo op for Jolie.
Her latest drop-in at Kherson threw a wrench into the works when military types snatched up her driver. Why wasn’t he in uniform, they wondered?
The Telegraph reported:
“The Hollywood actress ventured to the southern cities of Mykolaiv and Kherson on her latest humanitarian mission to the war-torn country, meeting volunteers and medics forced to live underground to escape attacks from Russian troops.
But the unannounced visit nearly descended into chaos after a member of her entourage, believed to be a driver, drew the attention of military recruiters at a checkpoint a few hours north of their first stop in Mykolaiv.”
“The man, named as Dymtro, 33, by Suspilne, a Ukrainian broadcaster, was detained and taken to the regional recruitment centre after it emerged he did not have military registration documents.
The revelations are believed to have infuriated government officials in Kiev, who were unaware that Jolie had entered the country on a humanitarian mission.”
“The Hollywood actress, 50, was touring frontline regions with a British charity when her driver – a military reservist – was stopped at a checkpoint and found to have no legal grounds to avoid conscription.
[…] Reports say the man, who had been assigned to escort Jolie through the Mykolaiv region, was ordered to report for military retraining on the spot.
The Tomb Raider star was left stunned as her companion was taken away, according to local media.
Unconfirmed reports even claim Jolie called President Volodymyr Zelensky personally to try to secure his release.”
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