Volodymyr Zelenskyy

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Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Володимир Зеленський
Volodymyr Zelensky Official portrait.jpg
Zelenskyy in 2019
6th President of Ukraine
Assumed office
20 May 2019
Prime MinisterVolodymyr Groysman
Oleksiy Honcharuk
Denys Shmyhal
Preceded byPetro Poroshenko
Personal details
Born
Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy

(1978-01-25) 25 January 1978 (age 44)
Kryvyi Rih, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
(now Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine)
Political partyIndependent
Other political
affiliations		Servant of the People (2018–present)
Spouse(s)
Olena Kiyashko
​
(m. 2003)​
Children2
EducationKyiv National Economic University (department in Kryvyi Rih)
OccupationComedian, actor, director, screenwriter, film producer, politician
Notable worksKVN
Kvartal 95
Svaty
Servant of the People
Office Romance. Our Time
Love in the Big City
Rzhevsky Versus Napoleon
Years active1995–2019
Signature

Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy[a] (Ukrainian: Володимир Олександрович Зеленський, pronounced [woloˈdɪmɪr olekˈsɑndrowɪtʃ zeˈlɛnʲsʲkɪj]; born 25 January 1978) is a Ukrainian actor, comedian, and politician who is the sixth and current president of Ukraine since 20 May 2019.

Prior to his acting career, Zelenskyy obtained a degree in law from Kyiv National Economic University. Nonetheless, Zelenskyy pursued comedy and created a production company, Kvartal 95, which produces films, cartoons and TV comedy shows, including Servant of the People, in which Zelenskyy played the role of President of Ukraine. The series aired from 2015 to 2019 and was immensely popular.

A political party bearing the same name as the television show was created in March 2018 by employees of Kvartal 95. Zelenskyy announced his candidacy for the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election on the evening of 31 December 2018, alongside the New Year's Eve address of President Petro Poroshenko on 1+1 TV Channel. A political outsider, Zelenskyy had already become one of the frontrunners in opinion polls for the election. Zelenskyy won the election with 73.2% of the vote in the second round, defeating Poroshenko.

Identifying as a populist, Zelenskyy's achievements include dissolving parliament and winning a legislative election landslide, managing the pandemic and subsequent economic recession, and tackling corruption in Ukraine. In recent years, critics claim that Zelenskyy's government has taken an authoritarian turn,[3] citing an increase in corruption and democratic backsliding.[4]

On 26 November 2021, Zelenskyy announced that a group of Ukrainians and Russians was planning a coup against him at the beginning of December.[5] However, his opponents argue that the president misled the public to rally popular support against Ukrainian businessman Rinat Akhmetov.[6]

Early life[]

Zelenskyy was born 25 January 1978 in Kryvyi Rih, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union to Jewish parents.[7][8][9][10] His grandfather, Semyon (Simon) Ivanovych Zelenskyy, served in the Red Army (in the 57th Guards Motor Rifle Division[11]) during World War II; Semyon's father and three brothers were killed in the Holocaust.[12] Volodymyr's father, Oleksandr Zelenskyy, is a professor and head of Department of Cybernetics and Computing Hardware at the Kryvyi Rih Institute of Economics; his mother, Rymma Zelenska, used to work as an engineer.[13][14][15] Prior to starting elementary school, he lived for four years in Mongolia in the city of Erdenet where his father worked.[8] At age 16, he passed the TOEFL and received an education grant to study in Israel, but his father did not allow him to study there.[16]

Zelenskyy earned a law degree from the Kryvyi Rih Institute of Economics, then a department of Kyiv National Economic University and now part of Kryvyi Rih National University, but has not worked professionally in the legal field.[8][17] He speaks Ukrainian, Russian and English.[18]

Entertainment career[]

At age 17, he joined the local KVN[19] (a comedy competition) team and was soon invited to join the united Ukrainian team "Zaporizhia-Kryvyi Rih-Transit" which performed in the KVN's Major League and eventually won in 1997.[8][20][21] That same year, he created and headed the Kvartal 95 team which later transformed into the comedy outfit Kvartal 95. From 1998 to 2003, Kvartal 95 performed in the Major League and the highest open Ukrainian league of KVN, the team members spent a lot of the time in Moscow and constantly toured around post-Soviet countries.[8][20] In 2003, Kvartal 95 started producing TV shows for the Ukrainian TV channel 1+1, and in 2005, the team moved to fellow Ukrainian TV channel Inter.[8]

In 2008, he starred in the feature film Love in the Big City, and its sequel, Love in the Big City 2.[8] Zelenskyy continued his movie career with the film Office Romance. Our Time in 2011 and with Rzhevsky Versus Napoleon in 2012.[8] Love in the Big City 3 was released in January 2014.[8] Zelenskyy also played the leading role in the 2012 film 8 First Dates and in sequels which were produced in 2015 and 2016.[8]

Zelenskyy in Prague in 2009

Zelenskyy was a member of the board and the general producer of the TV channel Inter from 2010 to 2012.[17]

In August 2014, Zelenskyy spoke out against the intention of the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture to ban Russian artists from Ukraine.[22] Since 2015, Ukraine has banned Russian artists and other Russian works of culture from entering Ukraine.[23] In 2018, the romantic comedy Love in the Big City 2 starring Zelenskyy was banned in Ukraine.[24]

After the Ukrainian media had reported that during the war in Donbas Zelenskyy's Kvartal 95 had donated 1 million hryvnias to the Ukrainian army, some Russian politicians and artists petitioned for a ban on his works in Russia.[25][b] Once again, Zelenskyy spoke out against the intention of the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture to ban Russian artists from Ukraine.[22]

Kvartal 95 performance in 2018

In 2015, Zelenskyy became the star of the popular television series Servant of the People, where he played the role of the President of Ukraine.[17] In the series, Zelenskyy's character was a high-school history teacher in his 30s who won the presidential election after a viral video showed him ranting against government corruption in Ukraine.

Zelenskyy's comedy series Svaty, In-laws, was banned for display on the territory of Ukraine in 2017.[26] The ban was lifted in March 2019.[27]

Zelenskyy worked mostly in Russian language productions. His first role in the Ukrainian language was the romantic comedy " [ru; uk]",[28] which appeared on the screens of Ukraine in December 2018.[29] The first version of the script was written in Ukrainian but was translated into Russian for the Lithuanian actress Agnė Grudytė. Then the movie was dubbed into Ukrainian.[30]

Start of political career[]

The political party Servant of the People was created in March 2018 by people from the television production company Kvartal 95, which also created the television series of the same name.[31][32][33]

In a March 2019 interview with Der Spiegel, Zelenskyy stated he went into politics to restore trust in politicians and that he wanted "to bring professional, decent people to power" and "would really like to change the mood and timbre of the political establishment, as much as possible".[31][32][33]

Starting 31 December 2018,[34] Zelenskyy led a successful,[35] almost entirely virtual,[36][37] presidential campaign to unseat the incumbent President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, in just three to four months. Zelenskyy clearly won both the first round of elections on 31 March,[38] and the run-off election on 21 April 2019.[39] One of Zelenskyy's presidential campaign promises was that he would only serve one term in office (i.e., 5 years).[40]

2019 presidential campaign[]

Zelenskyy and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, 19 April 2019

Six months before he announced his candidacy for the Ukrainian presidential election in 2019 (31 December 2018), Zelenskyy was already one of the frontrunners in opinion polls.[41][17][32][c] After months of ambiguous responses,[42][32][33] during the Kvartal 95 New Year's Eve evening show on the TV channel 1+1, he announced[d] his candidacy for the election.[17] In so doing, he up-staged the New Year's Eve address of President Petro Poroshenko on that particular channel.[34] Zelenskyy later denied that up-staging the president was intentional, and attributed this to a technical glitch.[43]

During the election campaign Zelenskyy continued to tour with Kvartal 95.[44] During the campaign his engagement with mainstream media was minimal.[36][e] He talked to the electorate on social media channels and in YouTube clips.[36] On 16 April 2019, 20 Ukrainian news outlets called on Zelenskyy to stop avoiding journalists.[36] Two days later, Zelenskyy stated that he was not hiding from journalists but that he did not want to go to talk shows where "people of the old power" were "just doing PR" and that he just did not have time to satisfy all interview requests.[46] Prior to the elections, Zelenskyy presented a team that included former Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk and others.[47][45] During the campaign, concerns were raised over his links to the oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi.[48] President Poroshenko and his supporters claimed that Zelenskyy's victory would benefit Russia.[49][50][51][52] On 19 April 2019 at Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex presidential debates were held in the form of a show.[53][54][55] In his introductory speech, Zelenskyy acknowledged that in 2014 he voted for Poroshenko, but "I was mistaken. We were mistaken. We voted for one Poroshenko, but received another. The first appears when there are video cameras, the other Petro sends Medvedchuk privietiki (greetings) to Moscow".[53]

List of questions that were mentioned[53]

Zelenskyy was elected President of Ukraine on 21 April 2019, beating incumbent president Petro Poroshenko with nearly 73% of the vote to Poroshenko's 25%.[56][57] Polish President Andrzej Duda was one of the first European leaders to congratulate Zelensky.[58] French President Emmanuel Macron received Zelenskyy at the Élysée Palace in Paris on 12 April 2019.[59] On 22 April, U.S. President Donald Trump congratulated Zelenskyy on his victory over the telephone.[60][61] European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker and European Council President Donald Tusk also issued a joint letter of congratulations and stated that the European Union (EU) will work to speed up the implementation of the remainder of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, including the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area.[62]

Presidency[]

See also: List of international presidential trips made by Volodymyr Zelensky
Presidential styles of
Volodymyr Zelensky
Flag of the President of Ukraine.svg
Reference styleЙого Високоповажність, Президент України.
"His Excellency, the President of Ukraine"
Spoken styleПрезидент України.
"President of Ukraine"
Alternative styleПане Президенте.
"Mr President"
Zelenskyy with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Federal Chancellery Complex in Berlin, June 2019.
Zelenskyy and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Zhytomyr, October 2019.

Zelenskyy was inaugurated on 20 May 2019.[63] Various foreign officials attended the ceremony in Ukraine's parliament (Verkhovna Rada), including Salome Zourabichvili (Georgia), Kersti Kaljulaid (Estonia), Raimonds Vējonis (Latvia), Dalia Grybauskaitė (Lithuania), János Áder (Hungary), Maroš Šefčovič (European Union), and Rick Perry (United States).[64] In his swearing-in speech he dissolved the then Ukrainian parliament as his first act as president, in spite of pre-emptive attempts to block this move by the People's Front, which withdrew from the ruling coalition a few days prior to his inauguration.[65][66] Zelenskyy was noted to have been the first Jewish President of Ukraine and with Volodymyr Groysman as Prime Minister, Ukraine was the second country to have both a Jewish President and Prime Minister.[67]

As one of the first acts of his presidency, Zelenskyy appointed Andriy Bohdan as head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine. Prior to this, Bohdan was the lawyer of Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi.[68] Under the rules of Lustration in Ukraine, introduced in 2014 following Euromaidan, Bohdan is not entitled to hold any state office until 2024 (because of his government post during the Second Azarov Government).[69] Bohdan, however, claims that according to the law, heading the presidential administration is not considered to be civil service work and therefore lustration does not apply to him.[70] Bohdan suspended his juridical career after becoming head of the presidential administration.[71] Following his appointment Bohdan claimed that "the oligarchs already want the same rules of the game as other citizens".[71] The other deputy heads of the Presidential Administration Zelenskyy appointed were mostly leading figures of Kvartal 95.[68] The head of Kvartal 95, and a childhood friend of Zelenskyy, Ivan Bakanov, was appointed deputy head of the Ukrainian Secret Service.[72]

Under a presidential decree signed on 21 May 2019, Zelenskyy appointed Deputy Foreign Minister Olena Zerkal as deputy head of the presidential administration.[73] However, a few hours later the text of the decree disappeared from the site of the president. According to Ukrayinska Pravda, Zerkal did agree to be the sole authorized representative of the international courts of Ukraine concerning Russia, but not to be a deputy head of the administration.[74] On 28 May, Zelenskyy restored the Ukrainian citizenship of Mikheil Saakashvili.[75]

The day before, he visited the front line, where he examined positions around Luhansk and received reports from military commanders. On 3 June, Zelenskyy appointed former president Leonid Kuchma as the representative of Ukraine in the Tripartite Contact Group for a settlement in the Donbas Conflict.[76] The next day, he arrived in Brussels on his first official foreign visit as president, meeting with European Union and NATO officials, including Jens Stoltenberg, Jean Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk.[77][78][79][80]

Zelenskyy's first major proposal to change the electoral system was rejected by the Ukrainian parliament.[81]

The parliament also refused to approve Zelenskyy's dismissal of the country's Foreign Minister, Minister of Defence and head of the SBU.[82] In addition, on 6 June, lawmakers refused to include Zelenskyy's key initiative on reintroducing criminal liability for illegal enrichment in the parliament's agenda, and instead included a similar bill proposed by a group of deputies.[83][84] In June 2019 it was announced that the president's third major initiative, which seeks to remove immunity from lawmakers, diplomats and judges, would be submitted after the July 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election.[85]

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and US delegation meets with Zelenskyy in Warsaw on 1 September 2019
Zelenskyy meets with U.S. President Donald Trump in New York City on 25 September 2019

On 11 June 2019, Zelenskyy dismissed the heads of 15 of Ukraine's oblasts (provinces) and the heads of the SBU (secret service) departments of five oblasts and asked parliament to remove the country's Prosecutor General from office.[86][87] On 8 July, Zelenskyy ordered the cancellation of the annual Kyiv Independence Day Parade on Maidan Nezalezhnosti, citing costs. Despite this, Zelenskyy highlighted that the day would "honor heroes" on Independence Day, however the "format will be new".[88][89][90] He also proposed to spend the money that would have been used to finance the parade on veterans.[91]

On 11 July 2019, Zelenskyy held a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin following the former's appeals to the Russian leader to take part in talks with Ukraine, the United States, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom in Minsk.[92][93] The leaders also discussed the exchange of prisoners held by both sides.[93]

In the 21 July 2019 parliamentary election, Zelenskyy's political party, Servant of the People, won the first single-party majority in modern Ukrainian history in parliament, with 43% of the party-list vote. His party gained 254 of the 424 seats.[94]

Formation of Honcharuk government[]

On 29 August 2019, during the appointment of the new government (Honcharuk government), the leader of parliamentary faction Servant of the People David Arakhamia informed that Arsen Avakov was reappointed as the Minister of Internal Affairs as "temporary" and "under personal responsibility" of the president, Volodymyr Zelensky.[95][96]

In September 2019, it was reported that U.S. President Donald Trump had allegedly pressured Zelenskyy during a July phone call between the two presidents to investigate alleged wrongdoing by Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden,[52][97] who took a board seat on Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings,[98] This report was the catalyst for the Trump–Ukraine scandal and the impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump. Zelenskyy has denied that he was pressured by Trump and declared that "he does not want to interfere in a foreign election."[99]

In August 2019, Zelenskyy promised to lift the moratorium on exhuming Polish mass graves in Ukraine after the previous Ukrainian government banned the Polish side from carrying out any exhumations of Polish victims of the UPA-perpetrated Volhynian massacres, following the removal of a memorial to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) in Hruszowice, southeastern Poland.[100]

Zelenskyy and Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev

In December 2019, he visited Azerbaijan and met with President Ilham Aliyev. Zelenskyy said: "We are doing everything to restore peace and the territorial integrity of our state. Unfortunately, the same threat faces Azerbaijan, which seeks to restore its territorial integrity. But I am convinced that our countries will successfully pass these tests."[101]

Zelenskyy dismissed Bohdan as head of his presidential administration on 11 February 2020 and appointed Andriy Yermak as his successor the same day.[102]

2020 visit to Oman[]

Before New Year's Day, it was announced that starting on 31 December 2019, the newly elected president would spend the holidays at the official residence "Syniohora" (Blue Mountain) in the Carpathian Mountains[103] or Bukovel ski resort.[104][105] Per tradition, the President of Ukraine recorded a video appeal to the nation to congratulate everyone on the New Year, which was aired on New Year's Eve (31 December 2019 – 1 January 2020). The video included statements of intent for reconciliation such as key phrases "it is not important what a street is named so long as it is well lit and asphalted" and "there is no difference at which monument you are dating your girlfriend".[106][105]

On 2 January 2020, a blogger posted photos of Zelenskyy vacationing in Bukovel.[105]

On 5 January 2020, internet news site Strana.ua published photos of Volodymyr Zelenskyy with his family who without any publicity left for Oman and were staying in Al Bustan Palace, part of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel chain, near Muscat.[105] Two hours after the publication, the Office of the Ukrainian President – which had been silent since 31 December 2019 – posted information confirming his visit to Oman.[105][107] The Office of the Ukrainian President also stated that Zelenskyy had a meeting planned in regards to prospective investments and, according to the presidential press secretary, Zelenskyy arrived in Oman at his own personal expense.[105][107] About four hours later, the Office of the Ukrainian President posted more information indicating that the President of Ukraine met with the Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs in Oman Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah[108] and then the executive president at State General Reserve Fund of Oman .[105][109] However, the Presidential Office never published any information about timeframe and schedule of the presidential visit to Oman.[105] The Ukrainian media publicized several criticisms regarding the visit to Oman in general and the official meetings as well as a comparison of the trip with president Poroshenko's visit to the Maldives two years prior. Zelenskyy personally ridiculed the latter's visit from a stage of his own Kvartal 95 Studio.[105][110]

Additionally, the President of Ukraine was accompanied by Andriy Yermak.[105]

UIA Flight 752[]

See also: Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752

On 8 January 2020, the Presidential Office announced that Volodymyr Zelenskyy was cutting his trip to Oman short due to the Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 plane crash in nearby Iran the same day.[111] The same day, internet news site Obozrevatel.com released information that on 7 January 2020, Ukrainian politician of the Opposition Platform — For Life Viktor Medvedchuk – who has exclusive relations with the current President of Russia – may have arrived in Oman.[112] On 9 January 2020, investigative journalists from Skhemy (Schemes: corruption in details) reported that arrival of the President was delayed for almost a whole day and published photos of his arrival.[113] Soon, rumors began that Zelenskyy may have had some additional meetings beside the ones that were announced.[114] On 14 January 2020, Andriy Yermak dismissed the rumors as speculations and baseless conspiracy theories,[115] while Medvedchuk stated that the plane was used by his older daughter's family to fly from Oman to Moscow.[116] Later, Yermak contacted Ukrayinska Pravda and gave more details about the visit to Oman and the plane crash in Iran.[117]

Zelenskyy and Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, in February 2021

On 17 January 2020, the presidential appointee Minister of Foreign Affairs Vadym Prystaiko was unable to give answers during the "times of questions to the government" in parliament when the people's deputies of Ukraine asked him about the visit's official agenda, the invitation from Oman, officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who were preparing the visit, as well as how the President actually crossed the border while visiting Oman.[118][119] On 20 January 2020, Prystaiko followed up by giving a briefing to the press in the Office of the president of Ukraine and saying that he would explain everything about the visit that when the time came.[120]

Formation of Shmyhal government[]

See also: Land reforms by country § Ukraine

On 6 March 2020, the Honcharuk government gave way to the government of Denys Shmyhal. At the time, there was disquiet in the press over the hasty departure of Honcharuk.[121] In his 4 March address to the Rada,[122] Zelenskyy recommitted to reforms domestic and financial, and remarked that he "cannot always become a psychologist for people, a crisis manager for someone, a collector who requires honestly earned money, and a nanny of the ministry in charge."[citation needed] By September 2020, Zelenskyy's approval ratings had fallen to less than 32 percent.[123]

Zelenskyy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

In January 2021, Zelenskyy said in an interview with Axios that China is not a geopolitical threat, and he does not agree with the United States.[124] On 24 March 2021, Zelenskyy signed the Decree 117/2021 approving the "strategy for de-occupation and reintegration of the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol."[125] In April 2021, Zelenskyy met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Following the meeting, Zelenskyy tweeted, "We share common values with #Turkey, including human life and support."[126]

2021 visit to the United States[]

Zelenskyy, Ukraine's Defense Minister Andriy Taran and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on 31 August 2021
Zelenskyy and U.S. President Joe Biden on 1 September 2021

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy engaged in high-level talks and commitments with U.S. President Joe Biden,[127] the U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, the U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm,[128] and the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.[129] President Zelenskyy and First Lady Olena Zelenska also took part in the opening of Ukrainian House in Washington, D.C.[128]

President Zelenskyy went to Silicon Valley and met with tech companies.[130] Zelenskyy also met with Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook,[131] spoke at Stanford University,[132] and met with the California National Guard.[133]

While Zelenskyy was still in the U.S., having delivered a speech at the United Nations, an assassination attempt was made on , his closest aide, who lives next door to him. As he was being driven through the forest, his unarmored car was hit by ten bullets on its left side. His driver was hospitalized with three bullet wounds.[134]

2021–22 Russo-Ukrainian crisis[]

Main article: 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis

In April 2021, in response to Russian military build-up at the Ukrainian borders, Zelenskyy spoke to American president Joe Biden and urged NATO members to speed up Ukraine's request for membership.[135]

On 26 November 2021, Zelenskyy accused Russia and Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov of backing a plan to overthrow his government.[136] Russia denied any involvement in a coup plot and Akhmetov said in a statement that "the information made public by Volodymyr Zelenskiy about attempts to draw me into some kind of coup is an absolute lie. I am outraged by the spread of this lie, no matter what the president's motives are."[137][138] In December 2021, Zelenskyy called for preemptive action against Russia.[139]

On 19 January 2022, Zelenskyy said in a video message that the country's citizens should not panic and appealed to the media to be "methods of mass information and not mass hysteria."[140][141]

On 28 January 2022, Zelenskyy called on the West not to create a "panic" in his country over a potential Russian invasion, adding that constant warnings of an "imminent" threat of invasion are putting the economy of Ukraine at risk.[142] Zelenskyy said that "we do not see a bigger escalation" than in early 2021 when Russia's military build-up started.[143] Zelenskyy and U.S. President Joe Biden disagreed on how imminent the threat was.[144][145]

Political views[]

Zelenskyy supported the 2013–14 Euromaidan movement. During the war in Donbas, he actively supported the Ukrainian army.[17] Zelenskyy helped fund a volunteer battalion fighting on Donbas.[146]

In a 2014 interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda in Ukraine, Zelenskyy said that he would have liked to pay a visit to Crimea, but would avoid it because "armed people are there".[147] In August 2014, Zelenskyy performed for Ukrainian troops in Mariupol and later his studio donated a million hryvnias to the Ukrainian army.[148]

Zelenskyy with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in June 2019

During his presidential campaign, Zelenskyy said that he supported Ukraine becoming a member of the European Union and NATO, but he said Ukrainian voters should decide on the country's membership of these two organisations in referenda.[149] At the same time, he believed that the Ukrainian people had already chosen "eurointegration".[149][150] Zelenskyy's close advisor Ivan Bakanov also said that Zelenskyy's policy is supportive of membership of both the EU and NATO, and proposes holding referendums on membership.[151] Zelenskyy's electoral programme claimed that Ukrainian NATO membership is "the choice of the Maidan and the course that is enshrined in the Constitution, in addition, it is an instrument for strengthening our defense capability".[152] The program states that Ukraine should set the goal to apply for a NATO Membership Action Plan in 2024.[152] The programme also states that Zelenskyy "will do everything to ensure" that Ukraine can apply for European Union membership in 2024.[153] Two days before the second round, Zelenskyy stated that he wanted to build "a strong, powerful, free Ukraine, which is not the younger sister of Russia, which is not a corrupt partner of Europe, but our independent Ukraine".[154]

Zelenskyy promised that his first bill, "On People's Power", will provide a mechanism for referendums.[155] This promise was not kept, as his first submitted bill was a law on public procurement of elections.[155] He also promised bills to fight corruption, including removal of immunity from the president of the country, members of the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament) and judges, a law about impeachment, reform of election laws, and providing efficient trial by jury. He promised to bring the salary for military personnel "to the level of NATO standards".[156]

Zelenskyy stated that as president he would develop the economy and attract investment to Ukraine through "a restart of the judicial system" and restoring confidence in the state.[157] He also proposed a tax amnesty and a 5% flat tax for big business which could be increased "in dialogue with them and if everyone agrees".[157] According to Zelenskyy, if people would notice that his new government "works honestly from the first day", they would start paying their taxes.[157]

Putin, Macron, Merkel, and Zelenskyy in Paris, France, on 9 December 2019
Zelenskyy with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Under Secretary Victoria Nuland in May 2021
Zelenskyy in the Donetsk region in June 2021

In an interview in December 2018, Zelenskyy stated that as president he would try to end the ongoing war in Donbas by negotiating with Russia.[158][159] As he considered the leaders of the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic (DPR and LPR) to be Russia's "puppets", it would "make no sense to speak with them".[159] He did not rule out holding a referendum on the issue.[160][159] In an interview published three days before the 2019 presidential election (on 21 April) Zelenskyy stated that he was against granting the Donbas region "special status".[161] In the interview he also said that if he were elected president he would not sign a law on amnesty for the militants of the DPR and LPR.[161]

Regarding the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, Zelenskyy said that, speaking realistically, it would be possible to return Crimea to Ukrainian control only after a regime change in Russia.[162]

Zelenskyy supports the free distribution of medical cannabis, free abortion in Ukraine, and the legalisation of prostitution and gambling.[161] He opposes the legalisation of weapons.[161]

Zelenskyy has come out against targeting the Russian language in Ukraine and the banning of artists for their political opinions (such as those viewed by the Ukrainian Government as anti-Ukrainian).[163][164][165] In April 2019 he stated that he was not against a Ukrainian language quota (on radio and TV) and that Russian artists "who have turned into (anti-Ukrainian) politicians" should remain banned from entering Ukraine.[161] He simultaneously floated this idea about the Ukrainian language quota: "you can change them a little".[166]

Zelenskyy stated in April 2019 that "of course" he supports the decommunization of Ukraine, but is not happy with its current form.[166][161] In an interview with RBC-Ukraine in April 2019, Zelenskyy said that OUN-B leader Stepan Bandera, a controversial figure in Ukrainian history, was "a hero for a certain part of Ukrainians, and this is a normal and cool thing. He was one of those who defended the freedom of Ukraine. But I think that when we name so many streets, bridges by the same name, this is not quite right."[166][167] In that same interview, Zelenskyy went on to criticise the overuse of tributes to Taras Shevchenko, a famous Ukrainian poet and painter. Zelenskyy concluded: "We must remember the heroes of today, heroes of the arts, heroes of literature, simply heroes of Ukraine. Why don't we use their names – the names of the heroes that today unite Ukraine?"[166]

In response to suggestions to the contrary, he stated in April 2019 that he regarded Russian President Vladimir Putin "as an enemy".[168] On 2 May 2019 Zelenskyy wrote on Facebook that "the border is the only thing Russia and Ukraine have in common".[169]

Although Zelenskyy prefers elections with open list election ballots, after he called the snap 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election his draft law "On amendments to some laws of Ukraine in connection with the change of the electoral system for the election of people's deputies" proposed to hold the election with closed list because the 60-day term to the snap election didn't "leave any chances for the introduction of this system".[170]

During the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election candidate Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that he was running for only one term.[171] In May 2021 he stated that it was too early to say whether he will run for a second term, but this decision would depend on the attitude to him in society and would be influenced by his family.[171]

Zelenskyy and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow on 1 November 2021

In a mid-June interview with  [uk] a representative of the President of Ukraine at the Cabinet of Ministers,  [uk], stated that Zelenskyy had never promised to lower communal tariffs, but that a campaign video in which Zelenskyy stated that the price of natural gas in Ukraine could fall by 20–30% or maybe more was a not a direct promise but actually “half-hinting" and "joking".[172] Notably, Zelenskyy's election manifesto only mentioned tariffs once—that money raised from a capital amnesty would go towards "lowering the tariff burden on low-income citizens".[173][174]

In October 2020, he spoke in support of Azerbaijan in regards to the Nagorno-Karabakh war between Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenians over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Zelenskyy said, "We support Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and sovereignty just as Azerbaijan always supports our territorial integrity and sovereignty."[175]

In June 2021, Zelenskyy submitted to the Verkhovna Rada a bill "On the prevention of threats to national security related to the excessive influence of persons of significant economic or political importance in public life (oligarchs)." The purpose of the law, according to the President, is to fight against people who have significant wealth and significant influence in society and politics (oligarchs). A person is identified as an oligarch if he meets 3 of the 4 criteria, and then he must be entered in a special register.

In August 2021, Zelenskyy warned that the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline between Russia and Germany was "a dangerous weapon, not only for Ukraine but for the whole of Europe."[176]

Controversies[]

A number of anti-Zelenskyy protests occurred in 2019 when it emerged that Zelenskyy had sought to seek peace in Eastern Ukraine without addressing the public demand of majority Ukrainians.[177][178][179][180] In response, Zelenskyy said that elections in disputed territories would not happen before a Russian withdrawal.[181] Zelenskyy expanded in an interview with Time: "When we talk about elections, we have to understand the third point: before elections, we need a full withdrawal, a full disarming of all illegal formations, military formations, no matter the type, no matter the group, no matter the uniform, no matter what weapons", referring to Russia's unmarked troops.[182]

In 2019, it was reported that Zelenskyy had a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump during which Trump pressured Zelenskyy to investigate Hunter Biden, the son of then-2020 Democratic Party presidential candidate Joe Biden. This resulted in the Trump–Ukraine scandal and the first impeachment of Donald Trump.

In January 2020, Zelenskyy said "Romania occupied Northern Bukovina", which brought criticism from Romania.[183][184] Then the Ukrainian Ambassador to Romania apologized, saying there was a misunderstanding at the translation from Ukrainian to Romanian.[185]

In 2020, Zelenskyy proposed a new law that critics said could lead to increasing media censorship in Ukraine.[186] Critics complained that this law would lead to state censorship because its clause of criminal responsibility for the distribution of disinformation could be abused.[187]

The October 2021 Pandora Papers revealed that Zelenskyy and his chief aide, , and the head of the Security Service of Ukraine Ivan Bakanov operated a network of offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands, Cyprus, and Belize. These companies included some that owned expensive London property.[188] Around the time of his 2019 election, Zelenskyy handed his shares in a key offshore company over to Shefir, but the two appear to have made an arrangement for Zelenskyy's family to continue receiving the money from these companies.[188] Zelenskyy's election campaign had centred on pledges to clean up the government of Ukraine.[188] In a 17 October 2021 interview with ICTV Zelenskyy did not deny that in 2012 he used offshore companies.[189] He claimed he did this to avoid (his then satirical TV shows) to be "influenced by politics."[189] Zelenskyy stressed that neither he nor any member of "Kvartal 95" was involved in money laundering.[189]

According to British analyst David Clark in July 2021, Zelenskyy has shown signs of drifting to authoritarianism, with his government shutting down private media companies, purging courts and businessmen under the mask of "de-oligarchisation", and replacing dissenting and independent-minded officials with Zelenskyy loyalists.[190] This view has also been shared by Mykhaylo Minakov, the senior adviser on Ukraine at the Kennan Institute, who stated that Zelenskyy is trying to replace the country's oligarchic system with a "power vertical" system in which he has more real power at all levels of government, pointing to Zelenskyy's use of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine to rein in tycoons and alleged criminal kingpins as a sign of this.[191] In late 2021, Zelenskyy alleged Russia along with Ukrainian plotters such as Rinat Akhmetov were planning a coup to remove him.[192]

Personal life[]

Olena and Volodymyr Zelenskyy greeting Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė on his inauguration, May 2019

In September 2003, Zelenskyy married Olena Kiyashko.[8] They both attended the same school.[8]

The couple's first daughter, Oleksandra, was born in July 2004.[8] In Zelenskyy's 2014 movie 8 New Dates, she played Sasha, the daughter of the protagonist.[8] In 2016, she participated in the show The Comedy Comet Company Comedy's Kids and won 50,000 hryvnias.[8] Their son Kyrylo was born in January 2013.[8]

Zelenskyy's assets were worth about 37 million hryvnias (about US$1.5 million) in 2018.[193]

On 9 November 2020, it was announced that Zelenskyy tested positive for COVID-19 and was hospitalised three days later. It was announced on 23 November that he had fully recovered from the virus.[194][195][196][197]

Selected filmography[]

The Film premiere of I, You, He, She

Film[]

Year Title Role
2009 Love in the Big City Igor
2011 Office Romance. Our Time Anatoly Efremovich Novoseltsev
2012 Love in the Big City 2 Igor
2012 Rzhevsky Versus Napoleon Napoleon
2012 8 First Dates Nikita Sokolov
2014 Love in Vegas Igor Zelensky
2015 8 New Dates Nikita Andreevich Sokolov
2018  [uk; ru] Maksym Tkachenko

Television series and shows[]

Year Title Role Notes
2006 Dancing with the Stars (Ukraine) as contestant
2008–2012 Svaty as producer
2015–2019 Servant of the People Vasyl Petrovych Holoborodko

Notes[]

  1. ^ Zelensky's name is spelled several ways. Zelenskyy is the spelling in his passport, and his administration has used it since May 2019.[1][2]
  2. ^ Since 2015, Ukraine has banned Russian artists and other Russian works of culture from entering Ukraine.[23]
  3. ^ Polling showed that Zelensky was especially popular among potential voters in southern Ukraine and to a lesser extent eastern Ukraine.[32]
  4. ^ The announcement was in a video message half in Russian and half in Ukrainian.[17]
  5. ^ From 21 January until 18 April 2019 Zelensky did not give interviews.[45]

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External links[]

Political offices
Preceded by
Petro Poroshenko
 President of Ukraine
2019–present 		Incumbent
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