Mila Kunis Opens Up About the War in Ukraine: 'I Feel Like a Part of My Heart Just Got Ripped Out'

Mila Kunis is opening up about her Ukrainian roots.

The 38-year-old actress spoke with Maria Shriver for her Conversations Above the Noise digital series on Thursday (March 10), where she discussed the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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“I very much have always felt like an American… People were like, ‘Oh, you’re so Eastern European.’ I was like, ‘I’m so LA!’… This happens and I can’t express or explain what came over me, but all of a sudden I was like, ‘Oh my God, I feel like a part of my heart just got ripped out.’ It was the weirdest feeling,” Mila shared.

Earlier this month, Mila and her husband Ashton Kutcher announced that they would be donating $3 million to Flexport.org and Airbnb.org to provide support to those affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. They also launched a fundraiser with a goal of reaching $30 million.

In the interview, she went on to say that the war inspired her to talk to her and Ashton‘s kids about their heritage.

Mila explained, “I turned to my kids and I was like, ‘You are half Ukrainian, half American!’ Like, I literally was like, ‘Look, you!” And my kids were like, ‘Yeah mom, I get it.’ And I was like, ‘No! You are Ukrainian and American.’ I was like, ‘You are half Iowa, half Ukraine.’ And they’re like, ‘Okay, I get it.’… It’s been irrelevant to me that I come from Ukraine. It never mattered. So much so that I’ve always said I’m Russian, right? Like I’ve always been, ‘I’m from Russia’ for a multitude of reasons…”

She also noted that she felt it was important not to blame the Russian public for what is happening in Ukraine.

“I don’t think that we need to consider the people of Russia an enemy. I do really want to emphasize that. I don’t think that that’s being said enough in the press. 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. I don’t think it’s the people of Russia… I do encourage people to look at it from the perspective of, ‘It’s the people in power, not the people themselves,’” she said.

She continued, “And I also don’t want people to get discouraged and conflate different issues in the world, and I don’t want people to compare. I think that one thing that’s happening a little bit that I’ve noticed is people are like, ‘Why is everybody paying attention to this problem, but nobody paid attention to all these other issues that have been happening?’ And I don’t want people to conflate. Like everyone, people just to focus on what is at hand right now and right now this issue can get incredibly catastrophic for the rest of the world – not just for that part of the world, and I don’t want people to lose sight of that.”

Mila‘s full interview will be available as part of Maria Shriver‘s Sunday Paper newsletter on Sunday, March 13.

Several celebrities who were born in Ukraine have spoken out against the war happening in their home country and you can see their comments here.