Volodymyr Zelenskyy

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'''Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy''' (Володимир Олександрович Зеленський){{efn|Nicknamed depending on one's opinion of him, "Sanych" (санич, a shortening of his middle name), "Zelupa" (a pun on Zelinskyy + zalupa/залупа, roughly meaning "dickhead") and "Hetman" (a traditional title for a military leader, particularly the Cossack leader in Ukraine)<ref>[https://www.counteroffensive.news/p/why-does-zelenskyy-have-three-nicknames Why does Zele] by Mariana Lastovyria & Yelyzaveta Yefimenko (Feb 26, 2025) ''The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak''.</ref>}} {{lived|1978}} is the 6<sup>th</sup> serving president of [[Ukraine]] (and resident badass) since 2019, after previously working as an actor and comedian. He became president after the {{wpl|2019 Ukrainian presidential election}} when he defeated {{wpl|Petro Poroshenko||.}} In February 2022, his main challenge became to defeat [[Vladimir Putin]]'s [[Russia]] after the [[Ukraine#Russian invasion of Ukraine|Russian invasion of Ukraine]], survive the war, and lead his people and nation to victory.

==Early life==
Volodymyr Zelenskyy was born in {{wpl|Kryvyi Rih}}, [[Ukraine]] in the Soviet Union to Jewish parents on 25 January 1978.<ref name="Birth">Goyal, S. (2022, March 9). Volodymyr Zelenskyy Biography: Birth, Age, Early Life, Education, Entertainment Career, path to Presidency, Political Views, and More. Jagranjosh.com; Jagran Josh. https://www.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/volodymyr-zelenskyy-biography-1646804381-1</ref> Before starting elementary school, Zelenskyy temporarily moved to Erdenet, [[Mongolia]] for four years.<ref name="Birth"/> Back in Ukraine, Zelenskyy studied at Kyiv National Economic University in 1995 and graduated with a law degree in 2000. He also found his romantic partner, {{wpl|Olena Zelenska}}, at the same school where they would later marry and have two children.<ref name="Birth"/> His native language is Russian, but he also speaks Ukrainian and English.

==Acting career==
Zelenskyy's acting career focused on comedy and romantic comedy in joining the Ukraine TV series company {{wpl|Kvartal 95 Studio||.}}<ref>https://theconversation.com/volodymyr-zelensky-how-acting-prepared-the-ukrainian-president-for-the-role-of-his-life-178955, The Conversation, Volodymyr Zelenskyy: how acting prepared the Ukrainian president for the role of his life.</ref> Zelenskyy featured in a number of movies, two TV shows, and one musical film which are listed below:

===Movies===
* ''{{wpl|Love in the Big City}}'' (2009)
* ''{{wpl|Love in the Big City 2}}'' (2010)
* ''{{wpl|Office Romance. Our Time}}'' (2011)
* ''{{wpl|Rzhevsky Versus Napoleon}}'' (2012)
* ''{{wpl|8 First Dates}}'' (2012)
* ''{{wpl|Love in Vegas}}'' (2014)
* ''{{wpl|8 New Dates}}'' (2015)
* ''{{wpl|8 Best Dates}}'' (2016)
* ''{{wpl|Me. You. He. She}}'' (2018)

===TV shows===
* ''{{wpl|Servant of the People (2015 TV series)|Servant of the People}}'' (2015-2019)
* ''{{wpl|Svaty}}'' (2008-2017)

===Musical movies===
* ''{{wpl|Three Musketeers (2004 musical)|Three Musketeers}}'' (2004)

Zelenskyy's acting career had not just paid off at making comedy, but also increased the ratings of the Kvartal 95 Studio TV since the {{wpl|2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine||.}}<ref>[https://www.timesofisrael.com/tv-comedy-series-starring-zelensky-as-president-gets-boost-in-popularity/, a TV comedy series] starring Zelenskyy as president gets boost in popularity. - ''The Times Of Israel''</ref> Similarly, the ''Servant of the People'' series would see a surge in popularity in the wake of the invasion as Netflix acquired the rights to air the show internationally, and countless television stations have also expressed their interest in broadcasting it.<ref>Whitten, Sarah (16 March 2022). [https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/16/netflix-adds-volodymyr-zelenskyys-show-servant-of-the-people.html "Netflix makes Volodymyr Zelenskyy's show 'Servant of the People' available to U.S. streamers"]. CNBC. Retrieved 20 March 2022.</ref>

==From clown to politician==
Zelenskyy entered the political world when he joined the {{wpl|Servant of the People}} political party in 2017, a party inspired by and named after the satirical TV show {{wpl|Servant of the People (TV series)|Servant of the People||,}}<ref name="Clown">https://en.as.com/en/2022/02/28/latest_news/1646068780_249806.html, Diario, Was Volodymyr Zelenskyy a comedian? How did Zelenskyy become president?</ref> in which Zelenskyy plays a high school teacher who gets elected president. In 2018 he became the leader of the party, and he went on to run in the 2019 presidential election.<ref name="Clown"/>
[[File:Volodymyr Zelensky vs. Petro Poroshenko.jpg|thumb|right|Zelenskyy vs Poroshenko]]
On 31 December 2018, Zelenskyy officially declared that he was running for President of Ukraine against then-incumbent Petro Poroshenko. The voting process lasted from 31 March 2019 (first round) to 21 April  2019 (second round). Zelenskyy ran on a [[populist]], anti-corruption, [[civil liberties|civil-libertarian]], pro-[[European Union]] platform whose promises and positions included negotiating an end to the War in the Donbas, support for {{wpl|E-democracy|E-democracy||}} and referenda<ref>https://ecfr.eu/publication/zelensky_unchained_what_ukraines_new_political_order_means_for_its_future/ Zelensky unchained: What Ukraine’s new political order means for its future</ref>, making it easier for Ukrainian citizens living in occupied territories to collect Ukrainian pensions<ref>https://impakter.com/volodymyr-zelensky-the-promises-of-ukraines-new-president/ Zelensky: The Promises of Ukraine’s New President</ref>, legalizing and regulating [[cannabis]] and [[sex work]]<ref>https://www.unian.info/politics/10521186-zelensky-supports-legalization-of-prostitution-marijuana-in-ukraine-ukraine-could-have-own-las-vegas.html Zelensky supports legalization of prostitution, marijuana in Ukraine: Ukraine could have own Las Vegas</ref>, and ending the policy of giving elected officials immunity from prosecution<ref>https://dgap.org/en/research/publications/mystery-volodymyr-zelenskiy, Solonenko, The Mystery of Volodymyr Zelenskiy</ref>. He ran an unorthodox campaign in which he often appeared onstage with members of his comedy troupe<ref>Miller, C. (2019, April 23). Crowdsourcer In Chief: Ukrainian Funnyman Takes Unorthodox Path To Top Of Presidential Pack. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. https://www.rferl.org/a/crowdsourcer-in-chief-ukrainian-funnyman-takes-unorthodox-path-to-top-of-presidential-pack/29796662.html</ref>, and he successfully pitched himself to voters as the corruption-fighting, middle-class man that he played on TV.

===Results===
Zelenskyy won the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election to everyone's shock. He won both the first round and the second round and ended up getting 73% of the votes, while Poroshenko only got 24%.<ref>https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48007487, BBC News, Ukraine election: Comedian Zelenskyy wins presidency by landslide.</ref> 

====Victory celebration====
{{youtube|cj7T9OvMuUI}}

==President of Ukraine==
Zelenskyy became president of Ukraine on 20 May 2019, where he would face challenges to stabilize his country.

===2019===
====Trump-Ukraine scandal====
Zelenskyy in 2019 faced his first challenge with the [[Trump-Ukraine scandal]] when [[Donald Trump]] called Zelenskyy to blackmail him in order to spy on [[Joe Biden]] so that Trump could gain advantage in the [[2020 United States presidential election]] by threatening to withhold military aid to Ukraine.<ref name="Scandal">[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49800181 Trump impeachment]: The short, medium and long story. - BBC News</ref> Trump was desperate to win not only against Biden but also to get dirt on Biden's son, [[Hunter Biden]], but this backfired due to Trump's stupidity.<ref name="Scandal"/>

The scandal began by an anonymous [[CIA]] whistleblower leaking the telephone conversation between Trump and Zelenskyy back on 25 July 2019, and showing how it was not really a normal conversation but blackmail.<ref name="Scandal"/> The CIA officer made the complaint on 12 August 2019, where the anonymous CIA officer showed it to the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community {{wpl|Michael Atkinson (Inspector General)|Michael Atkinson}} where he made sure it was a genuine leak and sent it to the Director of National Intelligence {{wpl|Joseph Maguire}}.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump%E2%80%93Ukraine_scandal#Whistleblower_complaints, See [[Wikipedia]] on {{wpl|Trump–Ukraine scandal}}.</ref> This further led to public knowledge of the scandal. Trump desperately wanted the whistleblower to be outed, without success, but he had bigger trouble with the [[Trump impeachment|impeachment]] that was right up his ass. 

Zelenskyy's reaction to the scandal was to deny it as he said it was a normal conversation with no blackmail, however this is clearly a lie.<ref>{{wpa|Trump-Ukraine scandal#Ukraine}}</ref>

===2020===
====Iran shoots down a Ukrainian plane====
Iran shot down the {{wpl|Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752}} on 8 January 2020; an error with their radar systems made Iran think the plane was an American cruise missile. 

Volodymyr Zelenskyy's reaction to the shooting of flight 752 was heightened with empathy to the families that lost 11 Ukrainians out of a total 176 passengers.<ref>[https://nypost.com/2020/01/10/ukraine-president-volodymyr-zelensky-vows-to-establish-the-truth-in-iran-plane-crash./, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky] vows to ‘establish the truth’ in Iran plane crash - ''New York Post''</ref> Zelenskyy also was happy that Iran acknowledged responsibility for the attack (which came forth through international pressure). However, Zelenskyy was not fully satisfied, as he wanted Iran to carry out full-scale investigations, prosecuting those responsible, and accepting full guilt.<ref>[https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-01-11/zelensky-iran-ukraine-plane-crash Ukraine president’s message to Iran]: ‘We insist on the full acceptance of guilt’ - ''Los Angeles Times''</ref> As of 2023, Iran still has yet to accept full guilt for the attack.

====COVID-19 in Ukraine====
The [[COVID-19 pandemic]] eventually hit Ukraine on 3 March 2020. The origin of COVID-19 in Ukraine started when a man travelled on a plane from Italy and arrived in a Romanian town of {{wpl|Suceava}} on 26 February, 2020. He later moved to Ukraine by car in the western city of {{wpl|Chernivtsi||,}} where from there it has caused more than 5 million infections and over 100,000 deaths according to the {{wpl|World Health Organization||.}}<ref>https://www.forbes.com/sites/katyagorchinskaya/2020/03/03/first-case-of-coronavirus-registered-in-ukraine/?sh=463c35b4793c, Forbes, First Case Of Coronavirus Registered In Ukraine.</ref><ref>https://covid19.who.int/region/euro/country/ua, World Health Organization, COVID-19 in Ukraine.</ref>

Zelenskyy's response to the COVID-19 in Ukraine was positive, unlike many world leaders bungling their responses to COVID-19. At first, he banned mass events and closed down schools for three weeks, starting on 12 March. Zelenskyy also restricted people from interacting with each other in public settings such as restaurants, bars, gyms, and shopping centers.<ref name="Sick">https://huri.harvard.edu/covid-19-ukraine-assessing-governments-response, Harvard University, COVID-19 in Ukraine: Assessing the Government's Response.</ref> While only 6 percent of Ukrainians felt the government was overreacting, which would make the Ukrainian COVID-19 handing situation good; in reality, Ukraine, like many other nations suffered from the healthcare crisis.<ref name="Sick"/> The crisis caused a shortage of medical equipment and hospital capacity. In order for Ukraine to stop its shortage of medical equipment, the government banned all exports of it.<ref name="Sick"/> 
[[File:Burial of deceased COVID-19 patient during pandemic in Ukraine. Chernivtsi, Ukraine.jpg|thumb|right|Burial of a Ukrainian citizen who died of COVID-19.]]

===2021===
====Attempting to stop Putin's dreams====
Putin's territorial madness of {{wpl|Donetsk People's Republic}} and {{wpl|Luhansk People's Republic}} would try to create a [[Soviet Union]] nostalgia of Putin's delusional dreams of making Russia great again. Zelenskyy was trying to stop Putin from achieving this dream by trying to make Ukraine part of Russia and to stop Putin from pressuring Ukraine to not join [[NATO]]. This whole crisis started all the way back in 2013 when Ukrainian president {{wpl|Viktor Yanukovych}} refused to sign the {{wpl|European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement||,}} which was basically an agreement for Ukraine to have relations with the EU and be more like them. Due to this refusal to sign the agreement, the people of Ukraine went full psycho on him by triggering the {{wpl|Euromaidan protests}} on 21 November 2013, which later during the late Euromaidan protests on 18 February 2014 triggered the {{wpl|Revolution of Dignity}} to completely overthrow him and the government.

Putin, however, could not accept this and soon launched the {{wpl|Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation|Annexation of Crimea}} on 20 February 2014, just two days after the Ukrainian revolution. This began the Russo-Ukraine war in 2014 until the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Between 3 March 2021 and 24 February 2022, tensions were rising between Ukraine and Russia in a not so good direction. This happened because Ukrainian politician {{wpl|Viktor Medvedchuk}} was cracked down on due to being pro-Russian, causing a burst of renewed tensions between Ukraine and Russia that ultimately led to Russia initiating military violence. <ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prelude_to_the_2022_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine#Initial_tensions_(March%E2%80%93April_2021), See [[Wikipedia]] on {{wpl|Prelude to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine||.}}</ref> The tensions eventually died down, only to be escalated again in November 2021, starting the violence and tension all over again.

Zelenskyy was desperate to stop Putin's stupidity from becoming a reality by begging [[Joe Biden]] and NATO to speed up the process to enter NATO. <ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volodymyr_Zelenskyy#2021%E2%80%932022_Russo-Ukrainian_crisis, See [[Wikipedia]] on {{wpl|Volodymyr Zelenskyy||.}}</ref> Even before Zelenskyy's begging, he tried to settle peace agreements with Putin, however, it all came to failure at the end of the day since Putin's patience had run out, and he would do something that became the biggest challenge he has ever faced.

==Surviving Putin's dreams==
Putin launched his full scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 and now Zelenskyy had to survive it. Unlike [[Saddam Hussein]], who was a coward who hid himself away during the [[Iraq War|American invasion of Iraq]], Zelenskyy stood his ground during the invasion and the war. Zelenskyy refused to leave office and instead fought against Putin even when the Russian military was outside of his home coming towards him in Kyiv. Zelenskyy until now has survived the ongoing war, but whatever happens to him during the war or after, he will always be remembered as a brave hero who stood his ground and fought for his country and people.

===Reaction to Russia's invasion===
{{Youtube|prfaWHQoxVg}}

== The odd slip-up ==
Of course, no one is perfect, not even Zelenskyy. He made what is possibly his worst slip-up when he (alongside [[Canadian]] Prime Minister [[Justin Trudeau]]) inadvertently applauded a [[Nazi]] who had fought in the Ukrainian battalion of the [[SS]], and who was lauded as a hero. But as far as anyone knows, it seems to have been unintentional on Zelenskyy's part, given that the man in question was in hiding and not well known until recently.<ref>[https://www.timesofisrael.com/canadas-parliament-trudeau-and-zelensky-give-inadvertent-ovation-to-nazi-war-veteran/amp/ Canada's parliament, Trudeau and Zelensky give inadvertent ovation to Nazi war veteran] by Rob Gillies (25 September 2023, 7:21 pm) ''Times of Israel''.</ref>

In February 2025, an elected United States dictator ironically dubbed Zelenskyy a "[[dictator]] without elections".<ref>
[https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/19/world/europe/ukraine-zelensky-trump-russia-war.html "Zelensky and Trump Trade Blows as Feud Escalates Over Peace Talks"] 19 February 2025: "The simmering feud between President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and President Trump escalated on Wednesday when Mr. Trump mocked his counterpart in a post filled with falsehoods, calling him a 'dictator without elections.'"
</ref>
This is due to the ongoing war, and it’s not the first time elections or indeed common life has been suspended due to wartime occupations. So while this one is not necessarily on Zelensky, it’s always better to have democracy even in dark times.

==See also==
*[[Vladimir Putin]] - his mortal enemy, the man responsible for invading his country.

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{Reflist|2|80%}}

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