Source: Privy Council No. 10
Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie appeared in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on April 30 to visit refugees, but her trip was interrupted by raiding alarms. In this regard, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zakharova believes that this is organized to divert people's attention from the Azov steel plant in Mariupol.
Angelina Jolie visited a boarding school in Lviv
According to Maxim Kozicki, director of the military administration of the Lviv region in the western Ukrainian city of Ukraine, Angelina Jolie, a Hollywood actress and Un Special Envoy for Refugees, visited a boarding school and medical institution in Lviv.
According to reports, Angelina Jolie was appointed by the United Nations as UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador in August 2001, and in 2012, she was again appointed by the United Nations as a special envoy of the High Commissioner for Refugees. Over the years, she has visited refugee camps in Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Pakistan, Chad and other regions, and has attended many international conferences on refugees, constantly calling on countries around the world to take more action to rescue refugees displaced by war or persecution.
In April 2015, Angelina Jolie, as UnHCR Special Representative, spoke at a conference at UN Headquarters in New York
Recently, Angelina Jolie appeared in Ukraine.
Kozcki said: "At one of the medical institutions, she visited children who were hit by missiles at the Kramatorsk railway station. She was deeply moved by their stories. One girl even told Julie privately about her dreams. ”。
According to the report, when visiting a boarding school in the area, "Angelina Jolie promised to come back." ”。
"This visit was a surprise for all of us," Kozicki added.
Angelina Jolie poses with fans in Lviv
Although the Ukrainian side has repeatedly stressed Angelina Jolie's status as untroubscribed envoy for refugees, Joan A. Gadini Williams, head of global communications at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, told the media on April 30 that "Angelina Jolie traveled to the region in her personal capacity and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was not involved in the visit." ”
It is clear that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees wants to disassociate itself from Angelina Jolie's visit so that they are perceived as having a particular position in this conflict.
In response, Julie's spokesperson said the trip to Ukraine was a "private humanitarian fact-finding mission focused on the needs of children" and that she made a similar trip at the height of the Syrian civil war in 2013, when she met syrian refugees in Lebanon. In 2018, she also met with displaced people in Jordan and Iraq.
In addition, the tidbits of Julie's trip also attracted media attention.
According to media reports such as "Russia Today" and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, on April 30, local time, Julie went to Lviv cafes, hospitals, railway stations and other places to visit refugees. But during a meeting with the refugees at a train station in Lviv, an air raid siren sounded at the scene, and Julie and her entourage quickly walked out of the train station and drove away.
Screenshot of the scene where Julie and her entourage evacuated
A video on social media showed Julie and her entourage running through air raid sirens at one point.
But "Russia Today" reported that there were no reports of missile strikes in Lviv on Saturday. Located in western Ukraine, just 70 kilometers from the Polish border, Lviv has not experienced fierce fighting in eastern and southern Ukraine.
Commenting on Angelina Jolie's visit to Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova commented that it was organized to divert attention from the "Azov Steel Plant" in Mariupol.
Zakharova said the Ukrainian armed forces "held civilians hostage" at the Azov steel plant and prevented them from leaving, although the Russian Defense Ministry has repeatedly announced humanitarian routes to ensure the safety of the lives of the survivors and provide assistance, and the United Nations and the Red Cross have joined the process. However, it was in this case that the "Western PR genius" called Angelina Jolie.
Zakharova said: "It's easy to advertise to ordinary people: 'This world-famous actress was rocketed in Ukraine.'" She was also a goodwill ambassador, so the world's media attention had shifted away from the Azov steel mill. ”