Mila Kunis 'awestricken' by strength of Ukrainian people during war

Mila Kunis feels "awestricken" by how people in her native Ukraine have responded to Russia's invasion of their country.

The actress, who moved from Ukraine to America in 1991, spoke to journalist Maria Shriver about the resilience of Ukrainians who have refused to evacuate following the invasion.

"I'm not pleasantly surprised, but I'm awestricken by this group of people. They're fighting with their own makeshift weapons," Kunis said as part of Shriver's Conversations Above the Noise video series on Sunday. "It is inspiring."

The That '70s Show star admitted she "very much always felt like an American", but that perspective changed following the invasion last month as she feels a sense of pride for Ukraine she was unaware of.

"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 explained. "It is a sense of pride and it's not taking away from loving where I live now and everything this country's given me. It's been irrelevant to me that I come from Ukraine. It never mattered."

The 38-year-old revealed that she always told people she was from Russia as it became "exhausting" trying to explain where Ukraine was to people who didn't know - but she won't do that anymore.

The actress also shared that she and her husband Ashton Kutcher met with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a meal three years ago and they had a "beautiful conversation" about his love for the country and its people.

Earlier this month, Kunis and Kutcher launched a $30 million (£23 million) GoFundMe campaign to support Flexport, which is organising shipments of relief supplies, and Airbnb, which is providing free, short-term housing to refugees. They pledged to match up to $3 million (£2.3 million) in donations.