Liev Schreiber on Ukraine’s abducted children: ‘Being a new father is a reminder of how important it is’
At a recent UN Security Council meeting, Liev Schreiber listened as three young Ukrainian children recounted the unimaginable horrors of being abducted by Russian soldiers. He describes them as three of the bravest people he has ever met.
Since the start of the war, about 20,000 children have been taken without the consent of family or guardians, according to Ukrainian officials. They say fewer than 400 have returned home.
“There are horrendous war crimes occurring in Ukraine but I don’t think there’s anything quite so awful as a child’s right to a childhood, more than anything to not be separated from their parents, being taken away,” says Schreiber, speaking to Sky News on the phone from New York.
Schreiber addressed the UN meeting in February. Pic: Gina LeVay Photography/Builders Ukraine
“Ukrainian children are being abducted into Russia and Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories and [being put] in these indoctrination programmes, where they are trying to convince them their parents don’t love them, their parents are in many cases dead or gone, and that Ukraine is not their home, Russia is their home.”
In December 2022, Sky News obtained and broadcast CCTV footage of Russian soldiers actively searching for children in an orphanage in Kherson, southern Ukraine. In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russia’s president Vladimir Putin for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine.
The Russians have claimed they are saving children from war for humanitarian reasons.
Best known for his on screen portrayal of LA fixer Ray Donovan, as well his performances in the X-Men and Scream film series, and the Oscar-winning Spotlight, some might wonder what Schreiber’s role in this fight is. But since the start of the war, the star, whose grandfather was a Polish-Ukrainian immigrant, has been doing everything in his power to help Ukraine.
He is the co-founder of BlueCheck, a crisis response organisation set up just weeks after Russia’s invasion to raise funds for humanitarian aid, and is also an ambassador for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s United24, and the chair of Builders Ukraine.
The actor visited the town of Borodianka in the Kyiv region in August 2022. Pic: Reuters
Such is his involvement, he was asked to make the opening remarks at last month’s UN meeting, ahead of the three children; Sasha, 13, Kira, 14, and 11-year-old Ilya. According to Builders Ukraine, the three were abducted by Russian forces during the siege on Mariupol in the early days of the war. Their parents were killed or captured.
Hearing them speak was “incredibly moving”, says Schreiber.
“At one point, one of the boys, Sasha, was asked, ‘If the whole world were listening, is there anything you would like to say?’ I felt like that was going to be a set-up for something political that Sasha had been told to say. And he just knocked the wind out of me and everybody else in the room by saying, ‘Well, if the whole world was listening, I would like to ask them to help me find my mom’. His mom has been missing for two years.
“I don’t know how to say it, but certainly as a father that brought it home for me, the situation.”
Read more:
Ukraine’s missing children
Mother tricked into sending daughter to ‘indoctrination’ camp
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Dec 2022: Liev Schreiber on his fundraising for Ukraine
Ilya’s mother was killed and the little boy’s leg was injured by shrapnel, the meeting heard, while Sasha almost lost one of his eyes during an attack. “Horrible, horrible stories,” says Schreiber. “And yet the pragmatism, of a kid just wanting to find his mom.
“People do go on and they gather themselves and they rally, and that’s what’s happening in Ukraine. And they’ve been doing that for two years, for the most part on their own.”
The actor, who welcomed his third child, a baby girl called Hazel, last year, is talking to me in between rehearsals and showtime for Doubt, which he is currently performing in on Broadway.
Schreiber is known for portraying the titular character in Ray Donovan. Pic: Showtime/ Sky UK
His recent on-screen performances include playing Anne Frank’s father Otto Frank in the mini-series A Small Light, and Henry Kissinger in the Helen Mirren film Golda, about the first female prime minister of Israel. He says he is thinking about his acting roles more now as he concentrates on raising a baby and his work for Ukraine.
“I think I have been taking a little bit of time off because there are so many other things that I want to do and to be able to do what I can for BlueCheck, United24 and Builders Ukraine, I think for me, it’s the right thing to do now,” he says. “Being a new father is hard work, but it’s also just confirmation of how important all of this stuff is. It’s just a reminder of how important it is that we leave the world a better place than when we came into it, for our children, our children’s children.
“Part of me is, you know, giving a lot of gratitude towards my grandparents and that generation for everything they did so that I could have the opportunities, the freedoms that I enjoy. I just would like to make sure that my children, and children like Kira, Ilya and Sasha, can experience that as well in their lifetimes.”
Towards the end of 2023, during an expedition trip to Antarctica he had been planning for several years, Schreiber had a serendipitous encounter; in the harbour of King George Island, thousands of miles from home and even further from Ukraine, he noticed a ship bearing the country’s blue shield and yellow trident coat of arms.
It was the Ukrainian research ship Noosfera, which had set off from the city of Odesa in January 2022, just weeks before the war broke out. Schreiber was invited on board. “I just told them how lovely it was to see the Ukrainian colours flying in Antarctica,” he says. “A reminder of how strong we are together.”
On board Noosfera with Captain Oleksandr Gryshko. Pic: National Antarctic Scientific Centre of Ukraine
Two years on from Russia’s invasion, Schreiber hopes to keep Ukraine in people’s minds.
“I feel just as human beings, we should be responding; as freedom-loving people, I think absolutely we should be responding. If not for their sake, for our sake as well. Because I do believe that in many respects, the Ukrainians are holding our line. In other words, the line of democracy and freedom and sovereignty is something that we share as nations with them, and if it falls in Ukraine, it can fall anywhere.”
Taylor Swift has announced her 12th studio album during an appearance on her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s podcast.
The pop megastar, appearing on New Heights, did not say when the record, titled The Life Of A Showgirl, will be released.
Fans can pre-order the album in various formats now and Swift’s website says physical copies will be shipped by 13 October.
Pic: New Heights
On Monday, Taylor Nation – an official branch of the singer’s marketing team – teased the release on TikTok with a slideshow of 12 images alongside the caption: “Thinking about when she said ‘See you next era…'”
Swift is seen wearing orange in every picture.
A special limited vinyl edition of the album will be released in “Portofino orange glitter”, according to a pre-order page on her site. A special cassette edition is also available for pre-order.
Taylor Swift’s website features The Life of a Showgirl pre-order options. Pic: Reuters
A brief clip from the New Heights podcast, hosted by Swift’s NFL star boyfriend, Travis Kelce and his brother Jason, a former NFL player, was posted on Instagram early on Tuesday.
The video showed Swift pulling a copy of the album from a briefcase with the cover blurred.
The full podcast episode will be released at 11pm on Tuesday, UK time.
Swift is living up to her reputation as pop’s hardest-working star
You might think that after pulling off the highest-grossing tour in history, all while writing and releasing an unexpected record-breaking double album at the same time, Taylor Swift would be happy to take a little break.
But no. The singer-songwriter has announced her 12th album, her sixth in six years.
Since her self-titled debut in 2006, the longest period Swifties have had to wait is just three years, between 2014’s 1989 and 2017’s Reputation; the period in which the star took time out following her public feud with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.
Over the past few years, Swift has also re-recorded and re-released four of her early albums in a (now resolved) battle over the rights to her master recordings.
With the new announcement, she’s living up to her reputation as the hardest-working star in pop.
Album number 12 is titled The Life Of A Showgirl, hinting at inspiration drawn from spending the best part of two years on the road – and perhaps a return to pop after embracing folk and her more gothic side.
Fans are now eagerly waiting to find out what Swift’s new era will bring.
New Heights had previously teased Swift’s appearance by posting an orange image on social media with a mysterious silhouette, which many correctly identified as the pop star.
The Life Of A Showgirl follows Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department, released last year during her record-breaking Eras tour, which generated more than $2.2bn (£1.6bn) across two years and five continents, making it the highest-grossing tour of all time.
Read more about Taylor Swift:
Swift’s final London show was the ‘best’
The impact of the ‘excruciating’ Era’s tour
Her new chart record
It marks her first release since she took back control over her entire back catalogue from private equity firm Shamrock Capital for an undisclosed amount.
In an effort to regain control over her music in recent years, Swift has been re-recording and releasing her first six albums. The move was prompted by Hybe America CEO Scooter Braun’s purchase and sale of her early catalogue.
Some of the ‘Taylor’s Version’ releases have included new songs as well as Easter eggs and visuals to offer a deeper understanding of her work.
The four re-recorded albums released so far have been massive commercial and cultural successes, each one entering the Billboard 200 US album chart at number one, helping her become the woman with the most number one albums in history.
Harry and Meghan have signed a new “multi-year, first-look deal” with Netflix, following the deal they struck with the streaming giant five years ago.
Described by the Sussexes as “extending their creative partnership”, while the news quashes rumours the relationship might not be renewed, it would appear to be a less prestigious deal than their first.
With Love, Meghan, has a second season out later this month. Pic: Jake Rosenberg/Netflix
As a “first-look deal” rather than an overall deal, the entertainment giant will be able to say yes or no to their content before anyone else, but they will not be under an obligation to stream it.
Several US outlets have suggested it is a downgrade from the Sussexes’ previous contract, which saw the streaming giant pay for exclusive rights for the content and was thought to be worth more than $100m (£74m).
British PR expert Mark Borkowski described the deal as a “downgrade” and suggested Netflix was “pivoting away” from Harry and Meghan.
Read more: Some call the deal a demotion – but the company still sees them as a power couple
Harry and Meghan set up their media company, Archewell Productions, after quitting as senior working royals in 2020.
Their partnership with Netflix had promised documentaries, docuseries, feature films, scripted shows and children’s television, but has so far only delivered documentaries and docuseries.
These include Harry & Meghan, a six-part series about their departure from the royal household, which is Netflix’s fifth most popular series of all time, and most recently, the lifestyle show With Love, Meghan, which is the streamer’s most-watched culinary show since its release earlier this year.
Speaking about the new deal, Meghan said: “We’re proud to extend our partnership with Netflix and expand our work together to include the As ever brand.”
As ever is Meghan’s lifestyle brand, launched in 2024, and rebranded this year, selling products including jams, shortbread and wine.
Meghan went on: “My husband and I feel inspired by our partners who work closely with us and our Archewell Productions team to create thoughtful content across genres that resonates globally and celebrates our shared vision.”
(R-L) Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Mindy Kaling. Pic: Netflix
Netflix’s chief content officer Bela Bajaria called the Sussexes “influential voices” and said their stories “resonate with audiences everywhere”.
New output includes the second season of With Love Meghan later this month, and a Christmas special in December.
Archewell Productions is also working on a documentary about orphaned children in Uganda’s Masaka region, an area heavily hit by the HIV/AIDS crisis, titled Masaka Kids, A Rhythm Within, and is developing a feature adaptation of the bestselling romantic novel by Carley Fortune, Meet Me At The Lake.
It comes as Harry has cut ties with his Sentebale charity but has said he still intends to do what he can to help young people in Lesotho, Botswana and Southern Africa.
Entertainment
Some call the Sussexes’ Netflix deal a demotion – but the company still sees them as a power couple
While we’re all desperate to know what this new deal is really worth in dollars and pounds, one thing I can tell you for certain is that Prince Harry and Meghan want us to know they’re delighted that Netflix again wanted to get a deal done.
“Absolutely over the moon” is how it was described to me.
But they’ll also be aware of the attention it’ll attract as we all try to pick apart what it means.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. Pic: Jake Rosenberg/Netflix
Firstly because of that ongoing fascination in how they’re making money since stepping away from royal life and losing financial support from the King, but also because of the recent reports that Netflix were intending to cut ties.
Yes this is a different type of deal from their original one in 2020. Some have argued that a “first look deal” looks like a demotion from what they previously signed up to.
With no real clarity on how much their original deal was worth, and no numbers being publicly thrown around this time, that is hard to judge.
But talking to those who know something about these kinds of deals you do get a sense it could potentially be more lucrative than it looks on face value.
With first look deals, yes there is often financial commitments from the likes of Netflix to get that first exclusive look at projects and first refusal.
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Harry claims: War of words continues
But there could be other significant monetary incentives for the Sussexes to sign.
For example, when the Obamas signed a first look deal with Netflix, the streaming service agreed to pay the operational costs for their production company “Higher Ground”.
Could it be that Netflix are also now covering the costs of Archewell Productions?
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
It’s stating the obvious to say that Harry and Meghan continue to divide opinions, some wanting to watch their programmes from a place of respect and fondness, others as a reason to grumble about them.
But signing on this latest dotted line shows Netflix still sees them as a power couple, who attract significant attention and are worthy of investment, whatever that really adds up to.
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