Volodymyr Zelenskyy, explained in 8 moments

Zelenskyy's rise in Ukraine, from TV star to president.

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Once known for his political comedy sketches and skits where he pretended to play the piano with his penis, Volodymyr Zelenskyy was elected as the president of Ukraine in 2019 in a landslide victory.

Although he promised that his presidency would be different from other Ukrainian leaders who “promise a lot” yet “do nothing,” President Zelenskyy would soon find himself unpopular with the public. Within two years, he had already navigated scandals like his offshore companies appearing in the Pandora Papers and struggled to fulfill his campaign pledge to end the war against Russia in the Donbas region of Ukraine.

But the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, found him extremely well-positioned to offer his skills in performance and storytelling to motivate Ukrainians, rally Europe, and undermine Putin’s propaganda. How will his reaction to Russia’s advances affect his legacy?

We chose 8 clips that we feel explain President Zelenskyy’s rise from a comedian to the leader of Ukraine and had journalists and experts respond.

Further reading:

Simon Shuster, reporter at Time Magazine, interviewed in the video above, wrote a profile on President Zelenskyy: https://time.com/6154139/volodymyr-zelensky-ukraine-profile-russia/

For more information on how social media shaped Zelenskyy’s victory in Ukraine, check out this piece by Maryana Drach: https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2020-08/RISJ_Final%20Report_Maryana%20Drach_2020_Final%202%20%289%29.pdf

Mykhailo Minakov, expert at the Wilson Center, and featured in the video above, wrote an analysis on Zelenskyy’s decline in popularity and the failures of his presidency
https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/just-all-others-end-zelensky-alternative

How Zelenskyy downplayed the war in January:
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/28/ukrainian-president-downplays-imminent-invasion-00003219

Listen to this episode of Vox's podcast Today, Explained on Zelenskyy: https://open.spotify.com/episode/05EqniD8MPKNGaBSf9LXSw?si=d4e50a3662d74e96

Understand Putin’s war on Ukraine, explained here: https://youtu.be/MVu8QbxafJE

Stay up to date on our reporting of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, here: https://bit.ly/3sSEJwT

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Видео Volodymyr Zelenskyy, explained in 8 moments канала Vox