Hollywood actress and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie visited Kharkiv as part of her current trip to Ukraine, where she and her son Knox stopped by the local sports club Spadkoyemets. According to the outlet Wave RBC.UA, citing the club's own Instagram post, the visit came as a surprise to the staff: an ordinary training session turned into a meeting with a global film star. While the actress spoke with the venue's representatives and asked about the history of its founding, her son joined in the Muay Thai (Thai boxing) training, working side by side with Ukrainian defenders.
Spadkoyemets Club's Reaction
The sports club shared a photo with Angelina Jolie and expressed gratitude for her attention to their work. In their statement, the representatives of Spadkoyemets emphasized that they especially appreciated the actress's "humanity and genuine interest" in the history of how the hall came to be. "We are very grateful and happy that you chose our hall! We want to thank you for your humanity and genuine interest in our hall, your interest in the history of its founding. We enjoyed the conversation and look forward to welcoming you again," the club noted, adding that the star's arrival was a pleasant surprise for the team.
Context of the Trip to Ukraine
The visit to Kharkiv was part of Angelina Jolie's current tour of the country. In recent days, the actress has been spotted in several cities — in particular, in Poltava, Ternopil, Kramatorsk and Lviv. As Ukrainian media note, this is already Jolie's third visit to Ukraine since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion. The actress, who serves as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, has repeatedly expressed her support for Ukrainians since the beginning of the conflict and has held humanitarian meetings with volunteers, medical workers and those affected by the war.
Timeline of Humanitarian Visits
The actress's first trip to the country took place in April 2022: at that time she made a private humanitarian visit to Lviv, where she met with volunteers, internally displaced persons, and children affected by the Russian strike on the Kramatorsk railway station. Her second visit to Ukraine took place in November 2025 — Jolie was in Kherson and Mykolaiv, where she toured medical facilities and underground schools, and met with families, medical workers and volunteers. The current trip, which is capped off, among other things, by her son's training session at a Kharkiv club, continues this line of public support.
Contradictory Data
The wording of various sources shows a slight discrepancy in terminology. The headlines of several outlets (TSN, News.ru, KP.ru) describe Spadkoyemets as a "boxing club," whereas in the original text and in the context of the training session the discussion is specifically about Muay Thai (Thai boxing) training, in which the actress's son participated alongside Ukrainian defenders. Thus, the difference concerns only the name of the martial art in the headlines, not the essence of the event: the fact of Jolie and Knox's visit to the Kharkiv sports club is confirmed unanimously by all sources.
