– Listen, I’m here. We will not lower our arms, declares the man in the center of Kiev in a video filmed by hand.
The man is the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi44, who swears to remain in Kiev.
Since the Russian invasion that began last Thursday, the whole world has been following Zelensky’s Twitter updates.
A man serious about the war in Ukraine would not believe that until a few years ago, he entertained the people on a popular TV series.
The play came true
Volodymyr Zelenskyi, a native of southern Ukraine, rose to the public’s awareness of his role in television in the comedy series People’s Servant of the People (Russian: Sluha narodu).
In the Russian-Ukrainian series, he presents a history teacher from Vasyl Holoborodko, who is coincidentally elected president.
As a matter of fate, just a few years after the release of the TV series, Zelenskyi was elected president of Ukraine, even as a representative of a party called Sluha narodu.
Like the fictional character he portrayed, Zelenskyi was elected president in real life without an actual election campaign.
The election campaign of the representative of the Sluha narodu party, which ran in the 2019 presidential elections in Ukraine, was familiar to Ukrainians from the popular TV series. Zelenskyi would discipline the gentlemen and bring the people to power, just like the history teacher Holoborodko.
Not quite similar to his character
Unlike in the TV series, when he ran in 2019, Zelenskyi was not just a citizen, but the owner of a successful TV production company surrounded by rumors of corruption.
Zelenskyi studied law at the School of Economics, but began her career in entertainment during her studies. Zelenskyi has produced and participated in numerous TV productions. Among other things, she won the Ukrainian Dancer with the Stars competition Olena Shoptenkon with in 2006.
Zelenskyi has earned his fortune from a production company that, in addition to the People’s Servant series, has produced many other successful programs as well as the popular Kvartal 95 comedy tours in Ukraine.
During the 2019 presidential election, critics criticized Zelensky for his close relationship with one of the richest people in Ukraine, an oligarch with a Jewish background. Ihor Kolomoyskyiinas Zelensky ‘s television productions have been made for Kolomoysky 1 + 1.
It was rumored that the candidate Zelenskyi would be just a puppet of Kolomoysky and, in fact, if the candidate wins power in Ukraine should be the oligarch Kolomoyskyi.
The villa riot that arose during the presidential race also spoke.
In his declaration of assets, Zelenskyi said he owned six apartments in Ukraine and one in London, but a Ukrainian investigative journalism site revealed (switch to another service) in 2019 that, in addition to these, Zelenskyi owns a € 3.6 million luxury villa in Forte dei Marmi, Italy.
Zelenskyi has also joined the U.S. ex-president Donald Trumpin by.
According to Trump’s indictment, Trump would have put pressure on Zelensky to cooperate with his own lawyer during the 2020 presidential election. According to the charges Trump would have tried to put pressure (you switch to another service) Zelensky to expose his challenger To Joe Biden and the alleged links related to this son to the Ukrainian gas company.
Zelensky’s name is also mentioned in the so-called Pandora’s papers (go to another service) in connection with. Zelensky had holdings through a paradise company, but he relinquished them in 2019. However, he has still received money through tax haven companies since 2019.
From “Pelle” to president
During the presidential election in Ukraine, opponents often called the aspiring president of the presidential entertainment industry a clown.
In spite of everything, in the 2019 elections, the politically inexperienced TV man Zelenskyi defeated his rival, even a pre-favorite of the presidential race, the former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko and the then president Peter Poroshenko.
In the second round, Zelenskyi won Poroshenko by an overwhelming 73 percent of the vote.
Experts say Zelensky’s political success kicked off Ukraine’s 2014 protests against the then-ruling president Viktor Yanukovych.
The ousting of pro-Russia Yanukovych, the occupation of Russian Crimea and the outbreak of the war in eastern Ukraine raised the pro-Western sentiment of Ukrainians.
Zelensky is known to have supported the Euromaidan revolution and the Ukrainian army in the war in eastern Ukraine. During the 2019 presidential election, he spoke in favor of Ukraine’s EU and NATO membership.
Spike under Russian skin
President of Russia Vladimir Putin has called the current Ukrainian administration and president Nazi and drug addicts.
The claim is special because, in reality, Zelenskyi is a Russian-speaking Jew, and his relatives were killed by the Germans in World War II.
Putin claims that there is a “neo-Nazi group” in power in Ukraine that is suing the West and persecuting the Russian-speaking minority.
Zelenskyi in particular has annoyed Putin by postponing the implementation of the Minsk agreements.
Poor progress in resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine has also eroded the support of Zelensky and his party among Ukrainians.
As the Russian threat grew in the early part of the year, Zelenskyi avoided warfare in her rhetoric. He also refused to believe U.S. warnings of a possible Russian invasion and stressed his belief in a diplomatic solution.
However, Zelensky’s voice changed at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, February 19th. He began his speech by describing a visit to a kindergarten in the east of the country that had been attacked days earlier.
At the time, Zelenskyi asked if the world had already forgotten the brutal events of the 20th century.
Warlord in the Finnish era
In a speech on social media, partly in Russian, on February 24, the serious Zelenskyi said he had done everything to prevent the war from starting.
– I tried to call Vladimir Putin to prevent the war from starting. The result was silence.
Now the president’s dark blue suit and tie have changed into a dark green t-shirt and field pants.
In recent days, Zelenskyi has appeared in the news around the world. He has tried to negotiate with the Russian leadership and appeal to the Russian people. He has expressed the concern of the Ukrainians and asked for help from the West. He has defied Russian aggression and encouraged Ukrainians to continue to defend themselves.
Despite the accusations and the crisis, his essence has remained valuable, determined and clear, writes BBC (switch to another service).
At the same time, his popularity among the people has exploded to peak numbers. BBC (switch to another service) according to 91 percent of Ukrainians currently support Zelensky.
The history teacher portrayed by Zelensky in the TV series becomes president because he is an honest and modest citizen. It seems that the war has also highlighted these features in the real President of Ukraine and they are affecting the Ukrainians.
This week online (switch to another service)has circulated video clips of Zelensky’s performances in Dancing with the Stars in 2006. It has brought a glimmer of light to the grim situation in Ukraine.
The world’s sympathies are now with Ukraine and Zelensky.