Posted on Feb 27, 2022
How Ukraine's president transformed from entertainer to fatigue-clad leader
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Three years ago, he was playing a president in a popular television comedy. Today, he is Ukraine’s president, confronting Russia’s fearsome military might.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is leading his country during an invasion that threatens to explode into the worst conflict in Europe’s post-World War II history.
On Friday, as Russian troops reached Kyiv, he posted a defiant handheld video to social media showing him next to the presidential palace in the heart 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 capped a head-spinning transformation of a man whose job used to be making jokes on television into a wartime leader. Who is this man at the helm as Ukraine faces the gravest of challenges?
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is leading his country during an invasion that threatens to explode into the worst conflict in Europe’s post-World War II history.
On Friday, as Russian troops reached Kyiv, he posted a defiant handheld video to social media showing him next to the presidential palace in the heart 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 capped a head-spinning transformation of a man whose job used to be making jokes on television into a wartime leader. Who is this man at the helm as Ukraine faces the gravest of challenges?
How Ukraine's president transformed from entertainer to fatigue-clad leader
Posted from nbcnews.com
TV
Humor
Russia
Ukraine
Posted 2 y ago
Responses: 5
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Zelenskyy, 44, who was elected president in 2019, was educated as a lawyer, but found his true calling as an entertainer.
Married to Olena Zelenska, with whom he has two children, he was born in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih in the then-Soviet Union to Jewish parents.
His family’s story tracks his homeland’s and the continent’s bloody history: He has said three of his grandfather’s brothers were killed by Nazi occupiers, while his grandfather survived WWII.
Raised during communism, Zelenskyy went into politics months before the 2019 election with no prior experience or solid policies. Instead, he ran on a promise to inject integrity into his country’s leadership.
Unlike many of his counterparts in the region, his past did not turn him into a dour politician in the Soviet mold. On the contrary, his public persona is encapsulated by one of his best-known 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 personable style and his ability to speak to people of all kinds.
“He is quite empathetic as a person. He finds good connections with people,” said Orysia Lutsevych, a research fellow at the London think tank Chatham House. “That’s why he’s successful in politics.”
A native Russian speaker, Zelenskyy used his charisma and immense popularity to win a landslide victory, supported by voters in Ukraine’s south and east — where millions of Russian-speaking Ukrainians felt disenfranchised by previous administrations. It is this alienation that Russia has tried to capitalize on by supporting separatists who have been fighting Ukrainian forces for eight years.
This week’s invasion, which came after months of Russia massing troops on Ukraine’s borders and demands from President Vladimir Putin that NATO bar Ukraine from joining the military alliance, is not the first time Zelenskyy has been thrust into the spotlight.
Just months into his presidency, a phone conversation in which then-President Donald Trump pressed him to investigate corruption allegations against Joe Biden garnered international attention. The scandal led to the first impeachment of Trump, who was acquitted in early 2020.
By this time, Zelenskyy had already disrupted the Ukrainian political system, bringing into the government people who wanted to modernize the country, Lutsevych said."...
..."Zelenskyy, 44, who was elected president in 2019, was educated as a lawyer, but found his true calling as an entertainer.
Married to Olena Zelenska, with whom he has two children, he was born in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih in the then-Soviet Union to Jewish parents.
His family’s story tracks his homeland’s and the continent’s bloody history: He has said three of his grandfather’s brothers were killed by Nazi occupiers, while his grandfather survived WWII.
Raised during communism, Zelenskyy went into politics months before the 2019 election with no prior experience or solid policies. Instead, he ran on a promise to inject integrity into his country’s leadership.
Unlike many of his counterparts in the region, his past did not turn him into a dour politician in the Soviet mold. On the contrary, his public persona is encapsulated by one of his best-known 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 personable style and his ability to speak to people of all kinds.
“He is quite empathetic as a person. He finds good connections with people,” said Orysia Lutsevych, a research fellow at the London think tank Chatham House. “That’s why he’s successful in politics.”
A native Russian speaker, Zelenskyy used his charisma and immense popularity to win a landslide victory, supported by voters in Ukraine’s south and east — where millions of Russian-speaking Ukrainians felt disenfranchised by previous administrations. It is this alienation that Russia has tried to capitalize on by supporting separatists who have been fighting Ukrainian forces for eight years.
This week’s invasion, which came after months of Russia massing troops on Ukraine’s borders and demands from President Vladimir Putin that NATO bar Ukraine from joining the military alliance, is not the first time Zelenskyy has been thrust into the spotlight.
Just months into his presidency, a phone conversation in which then-President Donald Trump pressed him to investigate corruption allegations against Joe Biden garnered international attention. The scandal led to the first impeachment of Trump, who was acquitted in early 2020.
By this time, Zelenskyy had already disrupted the Ukrainian political system, bringing into the government people who wanted to modernize the country, Lutsevych said."...
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I watched this video last night. Inspiring. I can't remember the last time I saw the leader of a nation standing side by side his fellow countrymen and women in the streets of a capital under siege. Zelenskyy is proof that we do not know our destiny.
"Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?" - Garth Nix.
"Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?" - Garth Nix.
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SSG John Oliver
I think it was the King of Jordan who strapped on his flight suit when ISIS barbequed one of his pilots alive.
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Guys a True leader. Much more than any of the chicken shits we have running the good ol USA. Democrat/ Republican alike
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CPL Wyatt Michael
But...But!! Where's his diversity and inclusion programs?! Doesn't he realize that, that this is the future of his military?! LOL!!!!
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SSG John Oliver
CPL Wyatt Michael An other flop like Afghanistan trying to understand "White Rage". Makes me sick
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