Mila Kunis says she's 'awestricken' by Ukrainian response to Russian military operation

Hollywood star Mila Kunis has opened up about how she feels about the ongoing conflict between her home country of Ukraine and Russia.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, during a sit-down with Maria Shriver for her '#ConversationsAboveTheNoise' digital series, Kunis stated that Ukrainians' response to the Russian military operation has left her "awestricken" and "proud" to be from the region, fuelling her decision to start a USD 30 million fundraiser with husband Ashton Kutcher.

She said that the Ukrainian response to the conflict sparked a new sense of pride she hadn't previously had after growing up in America. The actor had arrived in the US around the age of seven or eight in 1991, which meant that she grew up having a much stronger connection to her identity as an American. "It's been irrelevant to me that I come from Ukraine. It never mattered," she said.

"Everything changed" when Russia commenced its military operation in Ukraine on February 24. "I can't express or explain what came over me, but all of a sudden, I genuinely was like, 'Oh, my God, I feel like a part of my heart just got ripped out.' It was the weirdest feeling," she said.

Part of this "sense of pride" comes from having friends from Ukraine whose family members have chosen to remain in the country. They go to sleep in bomb shelters at night, Kunis says, and during the day, they take "whatever they have to protect themselves in the city, and they go to their office to continue working."

"I'm not pleasantly surprised, but I'm awestricken by this group of people. They're fighting with their own makeshift weapons. It is inspiring," Kunis said.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, so far, Kunis and her husband have raised more than USD 21 million of their USD 30 million ask. The campaign funds will go to Flexport and Airbnb to help them deliver supplies and provide housing to refugees fleeing Ukraine.

( With inputs from ANI )