Hollywood star posts happy update on daughter

Former Disney child star Hayden Panettiere has given an update on her daughter, who attends school in Kyiv, while her star husband fights.

Hayden Panettiere says her daughter, Kaya, is safe amid the war in Ukraine and her ex Wladimir Klitschko’s vow to enter the conflict.

When asked on Instagram Friday about the “Heroes” actor’s seven-year-old — who usually lives with Klitschko in his native Ukraine — Panettiere replied in the comments, “She’s safe and not in the Ukraine.”

The boxer had said earlier this month his daughter was still going to school in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital city of three million people.

Fortunately she has escaped.

“Nasvhille” actor Panettiere, 32, reposted comments Wladimir made about the conflict on Instagram to her own IG Story on Saturday, The New York Post reports.

The former Disney child star also shared her own thoughts on Instagram, slamming Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions as “an absolute disgrace.”

Boxer Wladimir Klitschko and actor Hayden Panettiere attend the 34th Annual Sports Emmy Awards. Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images.

Actor Hayden Panettiere attends the 66th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images.

“I’m praying for my family and friends there and everyone who’s fighting,” she wrote.

“I have personally witnessed the strength of the Ukrainian people who fought so hard for their independence and have continued to passionately defend their country over the years.

“What Putin is doing is an absolute disgrace! This horrific moment in history sends a terrifying message: the message that in this day and age, in year 2022, it’s okay to violate the rights of free people and allow autocrats like Putin to take whatever they please.

“I’m praying for my family and friends there and everyone who’s fighting. I wish you had more support and I wish I was there fighting with you! For now, I ask for those of us who can’t be there to stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and show your support for #democracy.”

U.S. actor Hayden Panettiere, girlfriend of Wladimir Klitschko, cheers on during his heavyweight IBF, WBO and IBO Championship fight against Nigeria's Samuel Peter. AFP PHOTO / BORIS ROESSLER.

Actor Hayden Panettiere at premiere of film "Raising Helen" in Los Angeles 26 May 2004.

Panettiere and the Hall of Fame boxer got engaged in 2013 and welcomed Kaya in 2014, splitting in August 2018. A rep for the actor told us in 2019 that she “regularly” sees Kaya and spends “substantial time” with her in the United States and Ukraine.

On Friday, the former heavyweight champion and his brother Vitali vowed to take up arms against Russia in the larger country’s invasion of their home.

‘I don’t have another choice,” Vitali, the 50-year-old mayor of Kyiv, said on ITV’s “Good Morning Britain.”

“I have to do that. I would fight.”

Meanwhile, Wladimir, 45, enlisted in Ukraine’s reserve army in the capital earlier this month amid Russia’s escalating threats to the country.

“We will defend ourselves with all our might and fight for freedom and democracy,” he wrote on LinkedIn Friday.

World champs ‘take up arms’ against Russia

The brothers, who both won several world heavyweight titles and dominated the heavyweight division for the best part of a decade between 2006 and 2015, shared that they would do their part to defend Ukraine.

“It's a difficult situation, we stand in front of one of the biggest and strongest armies in the world but we have to defend our families, defend our country and defend our cities — we don’t have another choice,” Vitali said.

Asked if Ukraine can defend itself, he said: “I believe it. I believe in Ukraine. I believe in my country. I believe in my people.”

Vitali Klitschko spoke about the unfolding “nightmare”. Photo by Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP

As for the aftermath of the bombings from Russian forces, Klitschko said it was “painful”.

“It’s everything the Russians have to pay for that,” he said.

“Sanctions … they destroyed international rules of war and Ukraine was always peaceful country, peaceful people. But now we have to take weapons and fight.

“It’s already a bloody war. It’s already died people, we don’t have exact numbers but we know many many examples.”

Asked if he would take up arms, he responded: “I don’t have another choice. I have to do that. I would fight.”

Those comments came as nations began to withdraw ambassadors from Ukraine.

But he also took to LinkedIn to share a post, hitting out at Russian president Vladimir Putin.

“The Russian president is using war rhetoric in the purest Bolshevik tradition and is rewriting history to justify his redivision of borders,” he wrote in the piece. “He makes it clear that he wants to destroy the Ukrainian state and the sovereignty of its people. Words are followed by missiles and tanks. Destruction and death come upon us. That’s it, blood will mix with tears.”

Oleksandr Usyk also spoke up. Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images

The brothers weren’t the only champions to hit out the conflict as current WBO, WBA and IBF heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk took to Instagram to reveal he was in the country.

“Some wrote to me that I ran away; I didn’t, I was at work but I’m back, I’m home,” Usyk said in an Instagram video translated into English.

“Friends, we have to unite because it’s a hard time right now and I’m really emotional and worry about my country, and our people. Friends, we have to stop this war; all of us together.”