A member of the Hollywood celebrity’s entourage was detained and drafted into the military last week
A driver for Hollywood star Angelina Jolie has said he was conscripted into the Ukrainian military after being detained during her recent visit to the country.
Dmitry Pishikov was part of Jolie’s entourage during her surprise trip to Ukraine last week, but was detained by draft officers after being stopped at a military roadblock.
“At this checkpoint they detained me for some reason, without providing an explanation, and asked me to drive with them to clarify some details. By deception, it turns out,” Pishikov told local broadcaster TSN in an interview published on Friday.
He was taken to a local draft center, where he was held on false pretenses, he added.
“‘Ten minutes, there’s a small detail, we’ll let you go as soon as we clarify’, they said. They lied,” he told the broadcaster, adding that he was still “a little outraged” by the conscription officials’ actions.
Jolie visited the draft center in person following the incident, footage of which emerged on Telegram. She later continued her journey, leaving the detained driver at the conscription center. Earlier conflicting reports suggested Pishikov may have been Jolie’s bodyguard.
He told TSN that as of Friday, he was at a military training facility and will “undergo training and serve in the army.”
Ukraine has intensified its draft campaign amid manpower shortages and battlefield setbacks in the conflict with Russia.
Kiev’s conscription officers have faced growing public outrage and criticism over their methods, as more and more viral videos of men being violently snatched off the streets have emerged online. The campaign has also been marred with accusations of corruption, torture, and even fatalities.
It has also led to international criticism. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has accused Kiev of carrying out an “open manhunt,” in which men “are often beaten, in some cases beaten to death.”
Igor Kastyukevich, senator for Russia’s Kherson Region, the Ukrainian-controlled parts of which Jolie visited, condemned the trip as just “another PR stunt exploiting hunger and fear.” No visits by Hollywood stars “using American and European taxpayers’ money” will help ordinary people, he told TASS.
