Volodimir Zelensky, the symbol of Ukrainian resistance
The Economist: "Zelensky fights for his country not in the name of some dark imperial fantasy"
Before becoming Ukraine's undisputed hero, Zelensky had a media past. From winning the famous "Dancing with the Stars" contest to leading the Ukrainian army against the Russian invasion, to being a multi-millionaire comedian and starring in a popular TV series.
The world has praised his dedication since the Russian attacks began last February. Several countries, including the United States, offered to help him and his family leave Kiev. His response has always been the same. He will not leave the country because his love for his nation is greater than his fear of dying in combat.
Vladimir Putin's "special military operation" has met with a people who are not ready to surrender. "Zelensky is fighting like a lion and the whole of Ukraine with him," says Sevgil Musaeva, a journalist and editor of Ukrainska Pravda, the country's leading online news site.
Whenever he can, the leader takes to television channels and his social media to deliver messages not only of strength, but also of peace. He knows that he is the man most wanted by the Russian military and he is not intimidated by this. At the same time, he demonstrates a number of fundamental virtues such as the courage to remain on the front line.
"Ukrainians! In all our cities where the enemy has entered, feel it. Go on the offensive! You must take to the streets! You must fight! [...] We must go out and drive this evil out of our cities. To prevent the creation of new DPR and LPR where normal life is simply impossible. Only slavery. Only on our knees", urges the president.
Zelensky's life has always revolved around acting and the spotlight. Born in Kryvyi Rih, southern Ukraine, he grew up as a native Russian speaker, but became fluent in both Ukrainian and English. He graduated with a law degree from the National Economic University in Kiev in 2000, but his interests went in a very different direction.
He was an actor, performer, scriptwriter and producer of the acting group Kvartal 95, with which he appeared in the televised finals of KVN, a popular improvisational comedy competition broadcast throughout the Commonwealth of Independent States. As a result of this participation, they became regular contributors to the show and appeared on the programme until 2003.
Co-founder of Studio Kvartal 95 (one of the most successful entertainment production companies in Ukraine) and executive director of the Inter TV channel, he has received more than 30 National Television Awards of Ukraine "Teletriumph". In 2012, he left the helm of Inter TV and concluded a joint production deal with the 1+1 channel, owned by oligarch Igor Kolomoisky.
This relationship got him into trouble when he declared his intention to enter politics. After winning the elections, critics feared that his mandate might be influenced by the shadow of the billionaire. Since the beginning of hostilities in Donbas, Zelensky and his production company supported the Armed Forces with funds and equipment, and organised shows in different military units.
The leader's political career began almost comically. The public knew him from his starring role in "Servant of the People", a satirical TV series in which he played Vasyl Petrovych Holoborodko. The character is a school teacher who accidentally becomes president of Ukraine after several students post his anti-corruption speeches on social media.
The production premiered in 2015 and its 51 episodes were a success. It half-jokingly, half-seriously denounced the main problems of a country full of shady politicians and businessmen. It also gave hope to a resigned nation accustomed to leaders looking after their own interests rather than those of the citizens.
The series was also broadcast beyond Ukraine's borders, with TNT and Belarus-1 channels in Russia and Belarus, respectively, including it in their programming. Leaders in Moscow and Kiev came closer and the Kremlin agreed to broadcast the programme that had made the neighbouring country's president famous.
The leader's political career began almost comically. The public knew him from his starring role in "Servant of the People", a satirical TV series in which he played Vasyl Petrovych Holoborodko. The character is a school teacher who accidentally becomes president of Ukraine after several students post his anti-corruption speeches on social media.
The production premiered in 2015 and its 51 episodes were a success. It half-jokingly, half-seriously denounced the main problems of a country full of shady politicians and businessmen. It also gave hope to a resigned nation accustomed to leaders looking after their own interests rather than those of the citizens.
The series was also broadcast beyond Ukraine's borders, with TNT and Belarus-1 channels in Russia and Belarus, respectively, including it in their programming. Leaders in Moscow and Kiev came closer and the Kremlin agreed to broadcast the programme that had made the neighbouring country's president famous.
There is a moment when Holoborodko has to choose a luxury watch. A man in a suit lists all the available brands until he stops at one in particular: Hublot. He then tells the leader that Putin has one of these watches. In Russian street slang, the word hublot sounds similar to one that can be translated as "dickhead". This was the first and last episode broadcast in Russia.
Society is echoing scenes that, ironic as it may seem, foretold a not-too-distant future. Zelensky has been pleading for Ukraine's EU membership from minute one, which is at odds with his character's lived reality. In the fiction, German Chancellor Angela Merkel informs him of her country's admission to the international organisation.
In another scene, he witnesses a heated fight between some members of the Ukrainian parliament and decides to stop the discussion with the phrase "Putin has been shot down! What was then seen as a joke has now become the wish of millions of people.
In March 2018, the producers of the series created a political party with the same name. Zelensky ran as a candidate in the race for the presidency and emerged as the favourite in almost all bets. His fluency in Russian helped him to win the support of Russian speakers in the East.
In March 2018, the producers of the series created a political party with the same name. Zelensky ran as a candidate in the race for the presidency and emerged as the favourite in almost all bets. His fluency in Russian helped him to win the support of Russian speakers in the East.
His election speech focused primarily on showing what differentiated him from the other candidates, especially from Ukraine's top official at the time, Petro Poroshenko. He did not organise official rallies or political speeches. And his main means of communication was social media.
When asked before his election how he differed from his rivals, Zelensky pointed to his face and said: "This is a new face. I have never been in politics. I have not fooled people. They identify with me because I am open [...]. If I am inexperienced in something, I am inexperienced. If I don't know something, I honestly admit it".
He won in a landslide in April 2019, winning 73% of the vote to Poroshenko's 25.5%. Turnout in those elections reached 62.06% of the more than 30 million Ukrainians. The outgoing president congratulated his successor and welcomed the free and democratic elections.
The president took over in a country mired in instability and his challenges were not few. When he was sworn in as Ukraine's sixth president, he inherited a stalemate between the army and separatists in the Donbas region. The fighting claimed the lives of some 13,000 people and paralysed several key sectors of the economy.
The direction the country took under the outgoing leader increased tensions with the Kremlin. Putin signed an international treaty in 2014 that included the annexation of the Crimean peninsula and Sevastopol to the Russian Federation. Regaining the lost territory was another major challenge that the former leader was willing to take on.
Thousands of supporters saw his voice as the key to breaking with the current political system. He succeeded in ending parliamentary immunity by passing a constitutional amendment aimed at fighting corruption. Of the 450 deputies in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's only legislative chamber), 373 voted in favour of the amendment.
The adoption of this constitutional amendment led to the elimination of Article 80 of the Ukrainian Constitution. From then on, deputies could be detained, arrested or subjected to prosecution without the approval of the House. The removal of this privilege was supported by 90% of citizens.
This measure adds to the short list of promises fulfilled, including the setting of a maximum price for gas for domestic consumers. The cabinet of the People's Servant has also achieved the creation of the Office of Economic Security, the signing of a decree on awards and scholarships for talented students or the law on the reform of the Security Service of Ukraine.
His desire to digitalise the work of the Ukrainian government materialised with the launch of Diia, a mobile application that serves as an electronic communication channel between the country's institutions and citizens. The focus was on moving the country towards online democracy and ultimately towards greater rule of law.
At the heart of Zelensky's election campaign was his determination to bring peace to the east and to restore Ukraine's integrity. He also pledged that by the end of his term in office the country would be ready to join the European Union and NATO. In the case of the EU, little progress had been made until the outbreak of war.
"We want to unblock the peace process in Donbas as soon as possible, get Crimea back, achieve EU membership in the next few years and get a very clear perspective from NATO, a very concrete timetable. And we want to achieve that by 2022", the president said last December. The plans are now very different, but it seems that the dispute has brought Ukraine one step closer to its international ambitions.
Experts and journalists noted that the issue of resolving the armed conflict in Donetsk and Luhansk was completely ignored. The failure to achieve the aims resulted in a loss of confidence on the part of Ukrainians. A poll conducted last year shows that if elections had been held in January 2021, Zelensky would have received only 13.4 % of the vote.
"Zelensky is everything Putin is not. He is young and charismatic. He has been embraced by his own people and by the world. And he fights for his country not in the name of some dark imperial fantasy, but out of a conviction that Ukraine is sovereign and independent," adds The Economist.
The Ukrainian style of political presentation is the antithesis of Russia. Zelensky does not see himself as morally superior to the governed. Putin, by contrast, follows an unparalleled authoritarian bent. If Kiev succeeds in putting an end to the military offensive, it will acquire a new leading role in Europe.
Russian attacks are aimed at the denazification of a country where its (Jewish) president lost most of his family in the Holocaust. The idea of liberating Ukrainian territory from the Kremlin involves shelling entire cities (including hospitals and orphanages), laying siege to the population and causing the death of innocent people.
The Ukrainian president does not hesitate to show the reality of the conflict and update on the new steps taken by the enemy. Talks with the leaders of other countries do not cease, as he makes known via his Twitter account. But he is aware that exchanging words is not enough and that the West must go further.
For her part, Olena Zelenska, Ukraine's first lady, is following in the same vindictive footsteps as her husband. Since the war began, she has been posting content showing the horrors of the Russian invasion and encouraging women to fight back. Olena addressed the whole of society with an open letter in response to the number of media outlets that have tried to contact her.
In the letter, she reproaches the Kremlin and its propaganda for trying to disguise the killing of civilians as a "special operation". "Many people, including the elderly, those suffering from serious illnesses and those with disabilities, have been debilitatingly isolated and have ended up far from their families. The war against these innocent people is a double crime."
The First Lady has always fought for children's rights. For her, it is undoubtedly the child casualties that are the most terrifying. She joins the call to close Ukraine's airspace to stop Russian bombing. This would allow the creation of more humanitarian corridors and favour the Kiev army.
Putin "underestimated our country, our people and their patriotism. Ukrainians, regardless of their political views, mother tongue, beliefs and nationalities, are in unparalleled unity [...] Ukraine wants peace. But Ukraine will defend its borders. It defends its identity. They will never give in."
