The actor who played poet Stus in the film ‘Forbidden’ left the country out of fear of mobilization and has not returned

Ukrainian actor Dmytro Yaroshenko left the country and has not returned.

This was revealed by Ukrainian producer Ihor Kondratiuk in an interview.

Before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in 2021, Kondratiuk began filming a movie titled “At Zenith”, in which Yaroshenko played the lead role.

“Already during the full-scale invasion, the lead actor Dmytro Yaroshenko—who appears in 80% of the scenes—left the country with permission from the Ministry of Culture and didn’t return out of fear of being mobilized. The film is now in limbo. I received 40% of the funding, but when we can resume filming—I have no idea,” said Kondratiuk.

The producer added that he supports Ukrainian artists traveling abroad, as they can raise significant funds for the military while outside the country.

Yaroshenko is well-known for playing poet and dissident Vasyl Stus in the film “The Forbidden.”

In March, it was reported that participants in Ukraine’s national Eurovision selection from the Poltava pop group MBreeze—Oleksandr and Illia Belyakov and Vasyl Demchuk (DEMCHUK)—also left Ukraine and did not return.

Earlier, Oleh Avdysh, Deputy General Director of Lviv football club “Karpaty”, failed to return from a trip abroad. He had traveled to Turkey with the team for training.