Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy holds a news conference about Russia’s military activity in Ukraine, on February 25, 2022 in Kyiv.
Anadolu Agency | beautiful pictures
Three years ago, he was playing a president in a popular TV comedy. Today, he is the president of Ukraine, confront the fearsome military power of Russia.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is leading his country in an invasion that threatens to explode into the worst conflict in Europe’s post-World War II history.
On Friday, as Russian troops arrive in Kyivhe posted a defiant hand-held video on social media showing him next to the presidential palace in the center of the Ukrainian capital, surrounded by members of his Cabinet.
“We are all here,” he said. “We are defending our independence, our country.”
The message showcases an astonishing transformation of a man whose job is often television jokes into a wartime leader. Who is this man when the Ukrainian leadership is facing the most challenges?
Zelenskyy, 44, who was elected president in 2019, trained as a lawyer, but has found her true calling as an entertainer.
Married to Olena Zelenska, with whom he had two children, he was born in the city of Kryvyi Rih, central Ukraine, in the then Soviet Union to Jewish parents.
His family’s story traces the bloody history of his homeland and continent: He tells that his grandfather’s three brothers were killed by Nazi occupiers, while his grandfather survived The War II.
Raised in communism, Zelenskyy entered politics a few months before the 2019 election with no prior experience or solid policies. Instead, he ran about his promise to bring integrity to his country’s leadership.
Unlike many of his regional counterparts, his past does not make him a bad politician in the Soviet mold. In contrast, his public personality is encapsulated by one of his most famous quips: “You don’t need experience to be president. You just need to be a decent human being.”
As a product of the entertainment industry, he is known for his personal style and ability to talk to people.
“He’s a pretty empathetic person,” said Orysia Lutsevych, a researcher at Chatham House. He finds good connections with people. “That’s why he’s so successful in politics.”
As a native Russian speaker, Zelenskyy used her immense charisma and popularity to win a landslide victory, is supported by voters in the south and east of Ukraine, where millions of Russian-speaking Ukrainians feel disenfranchised by previous administrations. It is this alienation that Russia has tried to capitalize on by supporting the separatists who have been fighting Ukrainian forces for eight years.
This week’s invasion, which comes after months of Russia massing troops on Ukraine’s border and President Vladimir Putin’s demand that NATO ban Ukraine from joining the military alliance, is not the first time Zelenskyy has been noticed.
Ukrainian presidential candidate and actor Volodymyr Zelenskyy celebrates with team members and supporters at his campaign headquarters in Kiev, Ukraine, April 21, 2019. The Ukrainian actor gives his thanks. Voters supported him in the country’s second round of presidential elections.
Xinhua News Agency | beautiful pictures
Just a few months after his presidency, a phone conversation where the then President Donald Trump pressing him to investigate corruption allegations against Joe Biden gained international attention. The scandal that led to Trump’s First Impeachmentwho was acquitted in early 2020.
At this time, Zelenskyy disrupted the Ukrainian political system, bringing in people who wanted to modernize the country, Lutsevych said.
He tried to curb rampant corruption in Ukraine and break down existing pillars of power, but “didn’t muster enough political power to break the bones of Ukrainian corruption in the system,” she added. .
At the same time, he is praised by many in Ukraine for keeping the country of 44 million people firmly on the pro-Western path. Russia and Ukraine remained aligned after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, but began to separate in the 2000s as Kyiv sought deeper integration with Europe.
In 2014, pro-Kremlin President Viktor Yanukovych was removed from office after refusing to sign an association agreement with the European Union.
The fact that Ukraine is a democracy threatens the Kremlin, and Russian officials accuse Zelenskyy of being a “small ship” of the West. He is often mocked by Kremlin propagandists as incapable.
Zelenskyy has also been criticized for failing to deliver on his biggest campaign promise – ending the long simmering war between government forces and Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. The conflict that left 14,000 dead became one bright spot last week after Russia officially recognized the breakaway territories as the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic. This move paved the way for the invasion days later.
While rallying support for Ukraine as tensions rose before the invasion, Zelenskyy chose play down Dire warnings were issued from Washington that Moscow was about to strike, saying it was hurting Ukraine’s already fragile economy and morale.
No Ukrainian president has ever dealt with a full-blown invasion of his territory. Faced with an unprecedented threat, Zelenskyy showed his best sides.
Valentine Gladkykh
political analyst in Kyiv
He terrify the market and caused a frenzy in the foreign media earlier this month when – in his signature ironic style – he appeared to say in a speech that Russia would attack on February 16, then explained that he was only referring to media reports of an invasion on this date. .
Many questioned that his calm tone was too relaxed, even making him butt of a joke for America’s late-night hosts.
But as it became clear last week, Ukraine has run out of diplomatic options to placate Putin, and while Zelenskyy remains calm, he has a more serious tone. He insisted Ukraine was ready for any threat while calling for peace.
Judging by Zelenskyy’s performance before the invasion and as commander-in-chief, Valentyn Gladkykh, a Kyiv-based political analyst, told NBC News that Ukraine’s president was trying to transform into a Wartime leader and now Ukrainian society, including his peacetime opponents, seem to be supporting him.
“No Ukrainian president has ever dealt with a full-scale invasion of his territory,” Gladkykh said. “Encountered with an unprecedented threat, Zelenskyy showed his best side.”
But his best side may not be enough – he and Ukraine are stuck in a contest between the real David and Goliath. Russia’s vast nuclear power spans 11 time zones and its military is considered one of the largest in the world, making Ukraine’s army the size of Texas and outnumbering it.
The contrast is not only in size and military strength. Within hours of the first Russian attack, the differences between Zelenskyy and his Kremlin counterpart couldn’t be clearer.
In his speech to justify an incursion into Ukraine late on Wednesday, an often expressionless Putin spoke in the stern tone of a former KGB officer, citing his nuclear arsenal. of Russia and warn anyone who tries to stop him.
“No one should doubt that a direct attack on our country would result in defeat and catastrophic consequences for any potential aggressor,” he said.
A few hours earlier, tired-looking Zelenskyy had sent out a fiery last-minute plea for peace, directly calling on Russian citizens – in Russia.
“Ukrainian people want peace,” he said, warning of the devastation the war would bring to the people.
“If the Russian leaders don’t want to sit behind the table with us for the sake of peace, maybe they will sit behind the table with you,” Zelenskyy said. insist. “Do the Russians want war? I want to know the answer. But the answer depends only on you.”
Even as Putin’s bombs began to fall on Ukrainian soil, Zelenskyy called on the Russians to speak out against the war. He thanks who did Sixth, say “keep fighting for us.”
Observers widely speculate that Putin’s end game in Ukraine could be to topple Zelenskyy and to install a president more willing to bow to Moscow. Last month, Britain said the Kremlin had search to install a pro-Russian leader in Ukraine as part of plan for an invasion.
“They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying its head of state,” Zelenskyy said on Thursday, saying he now “goal number 1” to Russian forces, but vowed to stay in the capital.
Late on Friday, Putin called on Ukrainian troops to overthrow their government, even as he hinted that he might be willing to join talks while forces continued to advance across the country.
But Zelenskyy was left with few options as the Russian offensive intensified. He could make concessions to Moscow, a move that may not be popular with many Ukrainians, or keep his position and face the wrath of the Russian military.
For now, he remains defiant.
“It will continue like this,” he said in the video posted Friday. “Glory to our defenders, glory to Ukraine.”
