Liev Schreiber and Andriy Shevchenko visit Ukraine in international appeal

Celebrities tour sites where hundreds of dead civilians were discovered after Russian occupation

American actor and activist Liev Schreiber and former Ukrainian football star Andriy Shevchenko visited Kyiv on Monday and called for the international community to increase its donations to Ukraine.

The two also paid a visit to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at his offices in Kyiv.

Appearing outside a residential area near Kyiv that has suffered extensive damage from Russian bombardment, the Isle of Dogs and Ray Donovan star toured the neighbourhood of Borodyanka.

“People see it as a one-time thing. But as you can see, people live with it every day,” Schreiber said.

It is his second visit to the war-torn country. In May, the actor, who has Ukrainian roots, met people in bomb shelters and co-founded BlueCheck Ukraine, which vets and expedites financial support to charities.

“Then the president asked if I could help with his initiative, United24, in the position of medical aid and also to really help get the word out, because the reality is that raising money right now is very, very difficult,” Schreiber said.

The two surveyed a damaged apartment tower block in Borodyanka, 50 kilometres north of Kyiv.

Borodyanka is in the Bucha area, where hundreds of dead civilians were discovered after the Russian occupation. Ukrainian authorities said 16,000 residential buildings were damaged in the area.

“You can see these people are living with it every day. So it has to be, there has to be some kind of incentive to get them to give more and to get them to give consistently,” Schreiber said.

A number of Hollywood stars have visited Ukraine during the war, including Angelina Jolie, Sean Penn and Ben Stiller, and most recently Oscar-winning actress Jessica Chastain.

Others have helped from afar, such as Hollywood couple Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher, who created a GoFundMe that raised almost $37 million for refugees this year.

Kunis was born in Ukraine and moved to the US when she was 7.

British actor Benedict Cumberbatch hosted a refugee family in his home, while Leonardo DiCaprio donated $10m.

Celebrities in Ukraine — in pictures