Profile of Ukrainian President Zelenskiy as six months of war approaches

Record ID: 1685658

  • Title: Profile of Ukrainian President Zelenskiy as six months of war approaches
  • Date: 3rd March 2022
  • Summary: In a popular Ukrainian TV series "Servant of the People", comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy plays a president who is scrupulously honest and outwits crooked lawmakers and shadowy businessmen who try to stand in his way. The 41-year-old actor announced a presidential bid on New Year's Eve and he has since emerged as the surprise frontrunner ahead of incumbent Petro Poroshenko and opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko in a crowded field of 44 candidates. KYIV, UKRAINE (FILE - FEBRUARY 22, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MAKEUP ARTIST APPLYING MAKEUP FOR UKRAINIAN COMEDIAN AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE VOLODYMYR ZELENSKIY ZELENSKIY TALKING TO COMEDY SHOW CO-PARTNER AND LAUGHING (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) UKRAINIAN COMEDIAN AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, VOLODYMYR ZELENSKIY, SAYING: (WHEN ASKED WHAT MAKES HIM UNIQUE AMONG OTHER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES): "This. (POINTING AT HIS FACE AND LAUGHING) This is a new face."
  • Embargoed: 17th March 2022 19:38
  • Keywords: Russia Scholz and Trump Ukraine Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy profile War Zelenskiy Zelenskiy with Macron
  • Location: VARIOUS
  • City: VARIOUS
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Europe,Military Conflicts
  • Reuters ID: LVA001820601011970RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Volodymyr Zelenskiy swept to power three years ago promising to end a war with Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
    Zelenskiy, a comedian-turned-politician, took the oath of office as Ukraine’s new president in May 2019.
    He grew to national fame in a TV comedy portraying a schoolteacher who unexpectedly becomes president after a pupil films him making a foul-mouthed tirade against corrupt politicians and posts the video online.
    His campaign exploited the parallels with that fictional narrative, portraying him as an everyman who would stand up to a crooked political class.
    As his first act, he dismissed the parliament still dominated by loyalists of his defeated predecessor Petro Poroshenko and smaller parties, calling an election within two months, giving his new party a chance to win its first seats.
    Ukraine’s most pressing issue is conflict with its neighbour Russia, which annexed its Crimea region in 2014 and backed separatists in a war in the east that has killed 15,000 people.
    Zelenskiy said his first task was to achieve a ceasefire, adding that dialogue could only happen after the return of Ukrainian territory and prisoners of war.
    In September 2019, Ukraine and Russia completed a landmark prisoner exchange.
    In December 2019, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Zelenskiy, in their first face-to-face meeting, took part in nine hours of talks in Paris, brokered by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The body language between Putin and Zelenskiy was chilly. There was no public handshake, and they avoided eye contact.
    In January 2022, Zelenskiy hosted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken for talks in Kyiv aimed at defusing recent tensions with Moscow.
    There were growing fears from the West that Russia could attack Ukraine. The United States said it will send 3,000 extra troops to NATO members Poland and Romania. Washington and allies said they will not send troops to Ukraine, but warn of severe economic sanctions if Russian President Vladimir Putin takes military action.
    Zelenskiy had urged people to stay calm about the threat of a Russian attack and said there was work in progress to bring about a meeting between him and the leaders of Russia, France and Germany.
    Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Putin said he authorised a "special military operation" designed to disarm Ukraine, defend Russian speakers from persecution and prevent the United States and its allies from using the country to threaten Russia.
    Russian forces began missile and artillery attacks, striking major Ukrainian cities including Kyiv.
    Ukraine has dismissed Putin's claims of persecution and denies any threat to Russia from Ukraine or Western countries. It says it is fighting an unprovoked land grab.
    Moscow has accused Kyiv of stalling peace talks and using reports of atrocities committed by Russian troops in Ukraine to undermine negotiations. Russia denies targeting civilians.
    In April 2022, Zelenskiy said that there was a high risk that the talks would end, blaming public anger with what he said were Russian atrocities committed as they retreated from parts of northern Ukraine around Kyiv.
    Zelenskiy said in June that Russia's invasion amounted to aggression against all Europe and that the more weapons Ukraine receives from the West, the faster it will be able to liberate its occupied land.
    On June 23 he declared the EU's move to accept Ukraine as a candidate for accession as a victory and promised not to rest until Russia's defeat and full membership had been secured. European Union leaders formally accepted Ukraine as a candidate to join the 27-nation bloc, a bold geopolitical move hailed by Ukraine and the EU itself as an historic moment.
    During meeting with U.S. senators, Republican Lindsey Graham and Democrat Richard Blumenthal, in Kyiv in July he asked for modern air defence systems.
    Zelenskiy visited troops along the Dnipropetrovsk frontline in southern Ukraine on July 8. He also paid a visit to wounded servicemen in a hospital in eastern city of Dnipro, presenting medals to soldiers in hospital beds.
    Zelenskiy on July 29 said the deaths of dozens of prisoners in a Russian-held jail showed there should be clear legal recognition that Russia was a state sponsor of terrorism.
    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said after talks on August 18 with visiting U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that the United Nations must ensure the security of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant occupied by Russian forces.
    Zelenskiy said on August 19 that an International Atomic Energy Agency mission to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant could re-establish the station's security while warning of Russian ''radiation blackmail.'' The plant, Europe's largest of its kind, was captured by Russia in March.
    (Production: Parul Gupta, Helena Williams, Olga Vyshnevska)
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