Mila Kunis And Ashton Kutcher Pass $30 Million Target For Ukrainian Refugees
Topics: Ashton Kutcher, Politics, Russia, Ukraine
Dominic Smithers
Featured Image Credit: GoFundMe
Topics: Ashton Kutcher, Politics, Russia, Ukraine
Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher have reached their $30 million target to help the Ukrainian refugee crisis.
Over the past few weeks, the two actors have been trying to raise money for those forced to flee their homes because of Russia's ongoing invasion of the country.
The couple set up a GoFundMe page and had given themselves a huge target, with the money being used to help 'provide immediate support' to those who most need it.
Advert
The couple have now announced they have surpassed that target, with more than $34 million having been donated at the time of writing.
In an update to the page, the two actors wrote: "We hit our goal! Over $30 million raised and over 65,000 of you donated.
"We are overwhelmed with gratitude for the support and while this is far from a solve to the problem, our collective effort will provide a softer landing for so many people as they forge ahead into their future of uncertainty.
"We want to say thank you so much for your continued support. This is just the beginning to a very very long journey. Thank you."
The original post explained that the money would support Airbnb and Flexport, which have been supporting people on the frontline.
It read: "While we are witnessing the bravery of Ukrainians, we are also bearing witness to the unimaginable burden of those who have chosen safety. Countless amounts of people have left everything they know and love behind to seek refuge. With nothing but what they could carry, these Ukrainian refugees are in need of housing and supplies right away.
"Through GoFundMe.org, this fundraiser will provide an immediate impact on refugee and humanitarian aid efforts.
"The fund will benefit Flexport.org and Airbnb.org, two organisations who are actively on the ground providing immediate help to those who need it most."
Kunis was actually forced to escape Soviet Ukraine when she was just seven years old, having suffered persecution under the communist regime.
The actor was born in the city of Chernivts, in the south west of the country in 1983, along with her elder brother Michael.
At the time, Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, aligned with Russia and in the midst of the Cold War with the United States and the West.
In 1990, with the hope of giving Kunis and her brother a better life, her parents, Mark, a chemical engineer, and Elvira, a physics teacher, decided to move to the US, with just a couple of hundred dollars in their pockets.
Speaking to the Los Angeles Times back in 2008, the 38-year-old opened up about her formative years behind the Iron Curtain.
She said: "It was very communist, and my parents wanted my brother and me to have a future, and so they just dropped everything. They came with $250."
As well as seeing it as a way of giving their children more opportunities, Kunis' parents had suffered back in Ukraine because of their faith.
If you would like to donate to the Red Cross Emergency Appeal, which will help provide food, medicines and basic medical supplies, shelter and water to those in Ukraine, click here for more information