VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY. Volodymyr Zelensky continues to challenge Vladimir Putin and the Russian military. The president of Ukraine, a former TV series actor, still says he is in his offices in Kiev, a capital now beset by the Russian armed forces.
[Mis à jour le 2 mars 2022 à 16h53] The Russian army continues its push towards Kiev and was at the gates of the capital Wednesday, March 2 at midday, after a night marked by new bombardments. Russian positions have strengthened since the beginning of the week, taking Kiev in a pincer movement. In the heart of the capital of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky still challenges Vladimir Putin with videos and messages of thanks to the countries supporting his action against the master of the Kremlin while judging to be “the number one target” of the Russians.
For several days, rumors have been rife about his presence or not in the Ukrainian capital. The former actor shot a video on Saturday February 26 which attests to his presence in the government district, breaking with the desk and the formal background of his last interventions. Since then, the latest videos have again been shot indoors for what appear to be obvious protective measures against possible bombardment.
Until when will the former “clown” of Ukrainian television challenge Vladimir Putin and face the second army in the world again? Volodymyr Zelensky has been hammering his message of unity and combat since the Russian armed forces entered Ukrainian soil on Thursday, February 24, 2022. The ex-comedian, who became Ukrainian president in 2020 after a surprise campaign, has been surprising since the beginning of the crisis by the calm displayed in his various interventions, a coolness which would have particularly struck Emmanuel Macron during his discussions. At 43, the man who was until then best known for roles in successful comedy shows in Ukraine is bursting out in front of the world, multiplying video messages and calls for resistance.
The death of Volodymyr Zelensky objective of the Wagner group? Rumors of planned assassination
According to the British newspaper The Times, men from the private Wagner militia have been present in Ukraine for several weeks. Their objective? Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. 400 Russian mercenaries of the Wagner force from Africa would have been dispatched with the ambition of entering the Ukrainian capital. According to the British daily, the Ukrainian government got wind of this presence through a note from its secret services, information which would have resulted in the proclamation of a 36-hour curfew in the Ukrainian capital.
Volodymyr Zelensky exfiltrated or still in Kiev? His response to the Americans
As the Russian armed forces approach downtown Kiev and the government district, beginning to encircle the capital, the Ukrainian president continues to publish numerous messages, also fueling certain conspiracy rumors about his possible departure from Ukraine. But while there were rumors of a presence in Poland, the Ukrainian president multiplied the videos shot outdoors, filming himself with several well-recognizable buildings in the background of downtown Kiev, a few meters from government buildings. such as the Maryinski Palace, official residence of the Ukrainian presidency or the adjacent Parliament, the Rada.
Will he be able to safely leave the Ukrainian capital in the event of an encirclement? The possibility of exfiltration by an allied foreign power has grown in depth in recent days. According to the American press agency AP, the American government would have proposed an exfiltration to the Ukrainian president, a proposal refused by the former actor. “This is where the fight is. I need ammunition, not a taxi,” he said, according to a senior US intelligence official quoted by AP. Asked Friday, February 25, Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French Foreign Minister had already mentioned the security of the Ukrainian president. “We are in a position to be able to help him if necessary (…) We will take the necessary measures,” he assured, refusing however to mention a possible exfiltration.
Who is Volodymyr Zelensky? Short biography
Born on January 25, 1978 near Dniepropetrovsk in south-eastern Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky made a career in television, first in game shows and then winning the 2006 season of the Ukrainian version of Dancing with the Stars. In 2015, he caused a sensation in the Servant of the People series where he played a high school history teacher who mistakenly became President of Ukraine. President fighting against corruption, integrity, the character played by Volodymyr Zelensky will greatly increase his popularity. In December 2017, he obtained the transformation of the party Decisive Change Party, founded the previous year and renamed it Servant of the People, playing the analogy with the series which made him famous. At the end of 2018, he declared himself a candidate for the presidency of the republic for the election scheduled for 2019.
Surprise, he crushes his traditional rivals there, obtaining more than 30% of the vote in the first round before clearly beating outgoing President Petro Poroshenko with more than 73% of the vote. He then became the sixth and youngest president of independent Ukraine. Without a specific program, he then intends to relaunch talks with Russia on the situation in the Donbass while continuing the policy of rapprochement with the EU. The dissolution of the Assembly and the legislative elections that followed gave him a large majority. But complex issues and clouds accumulate over his presidency. Donbass war, controversy following a discussion with Donald Trump asking him to investigate the son of Joe Biden, Hunter, a member of the board of directors of a Ukrainian company, criticism of his pro-Russian entourage, management of the Covid-19 pandemic… So many points on which Volodymyr Zelensky is attacked as he tries to accelerate on the external level by relaunching the NATO membership project while proposing a meeting with Vladimir Putin, proposal remained a dead letter. In 2022, faced with a less conciliatory Biden administration, he warned Westerners, notably at the Munich security conference: “For eight years, Ukraine has been a shield. For eight years, Ukraine has held back the one of the largest armies in the world which is massed at our borders and not at those of the EU”, he says then, a few weeks before seeing his country invaded by the Russian armed forces.
Volodymyr Zelensky was already a well-known personality among the Ukrainian general public before playing the role of his life. His animation made the entertainment program Evening Quarter (Vetcherny Kvartal) one of the most watched in Ukraine at the beginning of the 21st century. He then participated in the program Danse avec les Stars as a candidate and won the 2006 season. But it was in 2013 that his life changed with a leading role: that of a history teacher propelled president of Ukraine . The series was called Servant of the People and later served as the name of his party, propelling him to the head of state in 2019.
Volodymyr Zelensky Jewish or Nazi? His response to Vladimir Putin
Volodymyr Zelensky was formally accused by Vladimir Putin in one of the Russian President’s speeches legitimizing his action in Ukraine by the presence in power of a “clique of drug addicts and neo-Nazis, who settled in Kiev and took hostage all the Ukrainian people”. The Ukrainian president-elect in 2019 reacted in a video shot a few hours later: “How could I be a Nazi? Go explain it to my grandfather, who fought in the Second World War for the army Soviet, and who died as a colonel of independent Ukraine”. Son of Oleksandr Zelensky and Rimma Zelenska, scientists of Jewish and Russian origin, Volodymyr Zelenski is a non-practicing Jew. Russian-speaking, he kept the Russian language as his first language.
Who is Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine?
She is a well-known figure among Ukrainians since the election of her husband Volodymyr Zelensky as head of the Ukrainian presidency in 2019. Olena Zelenska has also appeared on the front line since the start of the crisis between Ukraine and Russia, even speaking on Ukrainian television on the evening of February 24, 2022 in a message of support which could also be seen as a goodbye when Russian forces were already investing the suburbs of the capital, Kiev.
Does Volodymyr Zelensky have children?
Volodymyr Zelenski is the father of two children, Oleksandra born in 2005 and Kirilo born in 2013. The Ukrainian president assured on February 25 that his family was in Ukraine despite the start of the Russian offensive. Little information has circulated since about a possible evacuation of the family of the Ukrainian president.
What is Volodymyr Zelensky’s Twitter account?
Also had a phone conversation with @vonderleyen. Talked about concrete decisions on strengthening Ukraine’s defense capabilities, macro-financial assistance and Ukraine’s membership in the #EU.
— (@ZelenskyyUa) February 27, 2022
Since the beginning of the Russian offensive on Ukraine, the Ukrainian president has multiplied messages on social networks, in particular via videos posted on his Facebook account and his Twitter account. Visibly in response to rumors of exile and exfiltration, the former actor shot several outdoor videos, filming himself in the streets of Kiev, with the buildings surrounding the government district and the Maryinski Palace, seat of the presidency, in the background. Ukrainian.