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Angelina Jolie, 46, only recently returned from war-torn Lviv, and the Oscar-winner has stories to tell. The Eternals star took to Instagram May 4 to share a heartbreaking story of a little girl who found and played with a “special stone.” “While I was in Lviv a few days ago, I was shown a ‘special stone’ found by a little girl,” Angelina captioned the photo of a hand holding a jagged, charred bit of metal. “The little girl who found it didn’t realize the stone she was playing with was in fact a piece of shrapnel from a bomb. Sitting in the palm of your hand, it’s jagged and heavier than you would expect. Its shine and unusual nature must have caught the child’s eye.”
It did catch her eye, and it caught Angelina’s as well. The activist and director went on to explain the physical injuries that shrapnel can cause, and how devastating they can be to children. “When a bomb or shell explodes, sharp fragments of heavy metal tear into the bodies of those near the point of impact,” the post continued. “Many of the children I met from the Kramatorsk train station bombing had pieces of shrapnel recently removed – a difficult and painful process. Fragments close to vital organs were too dangerous to remove, and remained inside some of the children’s bodies.”
Angelina shared several additional photos of children who appear to be in a hospital — in one, she sits on a bed alongside a little boy with a concerned expression on her face. The final photo shows one more angle of the sharp chunk of shrapnel. The UN Ambassador, who has been seen in social media posts while in Ukraine, said the injuries to the children aren’t just physical. “There is no sense to be made from such harm to children, that goes beyond physical injury to the emotional and mental manifestations of trauma.”
Angelina’s was reportedly in Lviv to meet with children who have been injured or affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. She was seen herself fleeing a building after an air raid siren directed occupants to find cover in a terrifying video clip. For the actress, it all points to one solution.
“The fight to end a war, like the one being suffered in Ukraine, is a race to limit the number of casualties killed, injured, displaced and traumatized every day,” she concluded her post.