Angelina Jolie Visits Kharkiv’s Underground Classrooms and Children’s Art and Sports Centers

American actress Angelina Jolie visited Ukraine, meeting teachers, coaches, families, and local organizations working to support children and communities amid continued Russian attacks on civilians and infrastructure, the actress and humanitarian said in a statement on September 16 .

Jolie said her visit came as Ukrainian children returned to school while communities continued to face frequent aerial attacks. In Kharkiv, located near the Russian border and regularly targeted by Russian strikes, she visited educational spaces created underground to protect children.

“Kharkiv sits close to the Russian border and is hit almost daily, so classrooms have been built inside metro stations. Other schools are fully underground, where young children learn to read three stories deep,” Jolie said.

During her time in Kharkiv, Jolie met young athletes from Caramel Studio, led by Tetyana Yermashkevych. The children continue training in an underground facility in Northern Saltivka, one of the areas of the city that has suffered extensive damage during Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Jolie also visited the Aza Nizi Maza art studio, founded by Ukrainian artist Mykola Kolomiets, where children are given space to create art. The studio relocated underground in 2022 to provide protection from Russian attacks.

The visit later took Jolie to the Carpathian Mountains, where she met families participating in Gen.Camp Family, a program run by Gen.Ukrainian that helps Ukrainian men returning from years in Russian captivity reconnect with their loved ones.

Jolie said she spoke with women who had raised their children alone while campaigning for the release of their husbands, some of whom had spent four years waiting for them to return. Her son Knox, who accompanied her during the visit, led a Muay Thai class for children participating in the program.

Jolie also paid tribute to the family of Oleksii Yukov, founder of the Platsdarm search group. Yukov dedicated much of his life to recovering, identifying, and returning the bodies of fallen soldiers from both sides of the war to their families. He was killed while carrying out this work on the frontline in August.

Several days earlier, the actress visited the Spadkoyemets boxing club in Kharkiv during her latest trip to Ukraine, where her son Knox joined Ukrainian service members for a Muay Thai training session.

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