By RFE/RL
Hollywood actor and UN goodwill ambassador Ben Stiller hailed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as his hero on June 20 during a visit to Kyiv.
"What you've done, the way that you've rallied the country, the world, it's really inspiring," said the 56-year-old American star, referring to Zelenskiy's speeches to parliaments around the world to rally support for his country.
"It's a great honor for me...you're my hero," said Stiller, who was named global goodwill ambassador to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in 2018.
Stiller's visit to Kyiv and meeting with Zelenskiy coincided with World Refugee Day.
Zelenskiy and Stiller discussed the needs of temporarily displaced people in Ukraine and Poland, which Stiller visited the day before, Zelenskiy's office said in a news release.
The two men also "discussed ways of further cooperation of the Ukrainian authorities with UNHCR," according to the release.
Earlier in the day, Stiller visited the Kyiv suburb of Irpin, the scene of fierce battles early on in the war.
"I feel it's hard to understand what's actually going on here if you haven't been here," he told Zelenskiy.
"I was in Irpin this morning...and the actual level of destruction, you see it on TV, you see it on social media, but it's something else to actually see it, feel it, and then to talk to the people," he said.
Speaking in English, Zelenskiy thanked Stiller for coming and told him it was "very important for us that people don't forget."
The pair also acknowledged they both had careers as comedic actors.
"You quit a great acting career," said Stiller, who is best known for his roles in the comedy films Meet The Parents, There's Something About Mary, and Night At The Museum, in a nod to Zelenskiy's career as an actor.
"Not as great as yours," Zelenskiy quipped.
Before being elected in 2019, Zelenskiy was best known for his role in Servant Of The People, a television series in which he played a high-school teacher who unexpectedly becomes Ukraine's president.
With reporting by AFP, The Hill, and dpa
https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-stiller-un-zelenskiy/31907632.html
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