Volodymyr Zelenskyy grew up in Ukraine in a Jewish Jewish family. His father forbade his son to go abroad to study in Israel when he was younger. Zelenskyy instead studied law in his home country. After graduating, Zelenskyy found a new career in comedy and movie acting. He rose to fame in the 2010s as one of Ukraine’s most popular entertainers through the TV series “Servant of the People.”
He portrays a loving high school teacher who is fed up with corrupt politicians and accidentally becomes president.
In just a few short years, Zelenskyy has become the president of Ukraine. At times in the runup to the Russian invasion, the comedian-turned-statesman had seemed inconsistent, berating the West for fearmongering one day, and for not doing enough the next. His bravery and refusal not to flee as rockets rained down upon the capital made him an unlikely hero for many.
The 44-year-old, dark-haired former actor has maintained his presence despite the fact that he is a target for the Russian invaders.
Zelenskyy reacted to an offer by the United States to transport Zelenskyy to safety. According to a senior American intelligence officer with direct knowledge, he stated in Ukrainian: “I need ammunition. Not a ride.”
On Saturday, Russian forces were still encircling Kyiv during the third day in the war. According to military observers, the main objective is to reach Kyiv to overthrow Zelenskyy’s government and to install a more cooperative Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Zelenskyy’s bold stand for Ukraine’s sovereignty was not something that one might expect from a man who felt too inclined to compromise with Moscow. His platform was that he could reach peace with Russia. Russia had taken Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. He also supported two pro-Russian separatist areas in 2014. This led to a conflict that claimed the lives of an estimated 15,000 people.
Even though Zelenskyy was able to negotiate a prisoner swap, reconciliation efforts failed as Putin’s insistent that Ukraine leave the West escalated. This made the Kyiv government look like a nest of extremism controlled by Washington.
Zelenskyy used his personal history to show that his country is one of possibility and not the hate-filled polity imagined by Putin.
Despite Ukraine’s history of antisemitism dating back to the Cossack pogroms of centuries ago and the involvement of some anti-Soviet nationalists in Nazi genocide during World War II. After Zelenskyy’s 2019 election, Ukraine became the only country other than Israel with a Jewish prime minister and president. (Zelenskyy’s grandfather was a soldier in the Soviet Army against Nazis while others died during the Holocaust.
Zelenskyy, a TV actor, was elected to office in a clear democratic election. He defeated a billionaire businessman. Zelenskyy promised to end the corrupt oligarchs that have haphazardly ruled Ukraine since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Putin was disturbed that this young upstart, focusing primarily on social networking, could claim the country’s top job. He has steadily tamed and controlled his political opposition in Russia.
Putin’s main political rival Alexei Navalny was also a comedian and anti-corruption crusader. In 2020, Russian secret services poisoned him with nerve agent. He was fighting for his own life when he was forced by international diplomatic pressure to travel to Germany for treatment. Doctors there saved him and he decided to return to Russia, despite the risk.
Navalny is now in Russia and has condemned Putin’s military operation against Ukraine.
Both Zelenskyy & Navalny share the belief that their beliefs must be challenged.
It’s scary to go to the president of a neighboring nation, your colleague, in order to support him during a difficult time. Then you hear from him that he will be staying there and will protect his country until the end.
On Wednesday, he met Zelenskyy just before the fighting began. He was one of many politicians who had been able to meet with the Ukrainian president in the last month, along with U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris.
Many Americans first became aware of Zelenskyy during President Donald Trump’s administration. Zelenskyy, in a 2019 phone call, urged him to find dirt on Biden and Hunter to aid Trump’s reelection campaign. Trump called that “perfect” phone conversation, and it led to his impeachment in the House of Representatives. He was accused of using his office and threatened with withholding $400 million of authorized military support for Ukraine for political gain.
Zelenskyy declined to criticize Trump’s call and said he didn’t want to be involved in politics of another country.
Putin’s attack on Thursday, which the Russian president called a “specially military operation,” began at dawn. Putin has denied that he intended to invade Ukraine for many months and accuses Biden of inciting war hysteria by revealing the number of Russian troops and weapons deployed along Ukraine’s borders.
Putin justified the attack by stating that it was meant to protect two eastern Ukrainian districts from “genocide.”
Zelenskyy recorded a message for Russians in response to the Russian media’s portrayal of Ukraine as an aggressor. There are simple questions. To shoot who, or bomb what? Donetsk?”
He recalled his many visits to the region and said that he had seen the faces, the eyes. “It is our land, it is our history.” What will we fight for, and who are we going with?
He was unhaven, in olive green khaki shirts and was not dressed in his usual shave. However, he recorded other messages to his compatriots via the internet over the past few days to boost morale and emphasize that he is not going anywhere, but will remain to defend Ukraine. “We are here. He declares, “Honor to Ukraine.”
Zelenskyy criticized President Joe Biden’s clear and detailed warnings about Putin’s intentions in the lead up to the Russian invasion. He said they were premature and could create panic. After the war started, Zelenskyy criticized Washington for not doing more, including to defend Ukraine militarily and to accelerate its bid to join NATO.
Zelenskyy’s wife Olena, an architect is a father to a daughter, 17-years-old, and a son, 9 years old. Zelenskyy stated this week that they have remained in Ukraine and not joined the exodus of mostly children refugees fleeing persecution abroad.
Melinda Haring, of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center for Foreign Affairs, wrote Friday that “The war transformed the former comedian into a provincial politician who has delusions of grandeur to a bona fide stateman.”
Haring stated that Zelenskyy was not able to carry out the necessary political reforms and he was slow in hardening Ukraine’s long-standing border with Russia. However, he “has kept his head up high.” Zelenskyy has shown tremendous physical courage by refusing to stay in a bunker and instead travelling openly with soldiers. This is something that no one expected from a Russian speaker of eastern Ukraine.
“He has been unmovable to his credit.”
