(The Hill) — Ukrainian-born actor Mila Kunis says the world shouldn’t blame Russian citizens for the country’s invasion of Ukraine, but should instead condemn the “people in power.”
“I don’t think that we need to consider the people of Russia an enemy,” the former “That ‘70s Show” star said in a preview clip released Friday from Maria Shriver’s digital series, “Conversations Above the Noise.”
“I do really want to emphasize that. I don’t think that that’s being said enough in the press,” Kunis, 38, continued.
“I think that there’s now, ‘If you’re not with us, you’re against us’ mentality. And I don’t want people to conflate the two problems that are happening,” Kunis told Shriver of the ongoing conflict that began last month when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a military offensive against Ukraine.
Kunis, who was born in Ukraine before immigrating to the United States when she was 7, said, “I don’t think it’s the people of Russia, so I don’t want there to be a thing of all Russians are horrible human beings. I don’t want that to be the rhetoric.”
“I do encourage people to look at it from the perspective of, it’s the people in power, not the people themselves.”
Kunis told Shriver since she moved to the U.S. at a young age, she always considered herself “very much an American.”
“This happened, and I can’t express or explain what came over me, but all of the sudden, I feel like oh my god, a part of my heart just got ripped out.”
Last week, Kunis, along with husband Ashton Kutcher, said they would match up to $3 million in charitable donations towards helping Ukrainian refugees.
Kunis’s full interview will be released on March 13 to Maria Shriver’s Sunday Paper subscribers.