Nothing funny about it: Braving Russian invasion, a president who was once a comedian

The Ukrainian President, once one of the most popular TV comedians in the country, couldn’t have imagined less than four years ago that his neighbour, the world’s third strongest country in power ranking, would come knocking down all the doors to the gates of the state capital, Kyiv.

As the Ukraine army battled Russian forces outside the capital Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed to stay in Kyiv and said he had been marked as “the number one target” by the enemy.

Let’s take a look at the former comedian’s glamorous past and how he found himself in the middle of this serious affair:

Who is Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Long before Zelenskyy made his way through to political galleries, the Russian-speaking Ukrainian made a name with his comedy troupe, Kvartal 95.

In 2015, he starred in “Servant of the People”, a sitcom about a school teacher who becomes the president of Ukraine after his rant about corruption goes viral.

The sitcom ran for four years, till 2019.

The 44-year-old won the presidential election in a landslide in 2019, defeating Petro Poroshenko.

As per the LA Times, Zelenskyy positioned himself as a political outsider during his presidential campaign. He presented himself as an eager candidate who was willing to shake up the establishment.

His campaign was supported by two goals: breaking up oligarchs’ economic power and ending the war in Ukraine’s Donbass region.

Zelenskyy as president

It was one of his promises to end Ukraine’s conflict with Russia by engaging in dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, in the last year, Zelenskyy’s administration has only faced an escalation of tension with Russia.

The amateur politician is known to keep his calm in the face of an impending disaster, even too calm to fit the situation.

Last week, when the US warned in an urgent tone of an imminent war with Russia that could begin without warning, Zelenskyy appealed to his 44 million fellow Ukrainians to “show the world our unity”, instead of mobilising troops to face the threat posed by thousands of Russian soldiers on Ukraine’s borders.

The Ukrainian president, however, hasn’t shied from addressing his countrymen in this hour of emergency.

As Russia conducted strikes on Ukraine’s military infrastructure and border guards on Thursday morning, Zelenskyy appealed Ukrainians to “keep calm”.

“Dear Ukrainian citizens, this morning President Putin announced a special military operation in Donbas. Russia conducted strikes on our military infrastructure and our border guards. There were blasts heard in many cities of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in a short video message.

He assured the citizens that the US has already started uniting international support for Ukraine.

“We’re introducing martial law on the whole territory of our country. A minute ago I had a conversation with President Biden. The US has already started uniting international support. Today each of you should keep calm. Stay at home if you can. We are working. The army is working. The whole sector of defense and security is working,” he said.

Also read: Ukraine imposes martial law: What it means, what Zelensky said, how public reacted

He urged people to not panic.

“No panic. We are strong. We are ready for everything. We will win over everybody because we are Ukraine.”

At the end of the day on Thursday, when Ukraine suffered mass casualties – 137 Ukrainians, both military personnel and civilians dead – Zelenskyyy said in a late night video address, “We have been left alone to defend our state. Who is ready to fight alongside us? I don't see anyone.”

"Who is ready to give Ukraine a guarantee of NATO membership? Everyone is afraid," he added.

Also read: American intelligence vindicated by Russia's invasion plans

In the late night address, which exuded a very different tone than the morning address, Zelenskyy hinted that he was ready to drop Ukraine’s push for NATO membership and maintain neutral status.

He said that he wasn’t afraid of negotiations with Moscow on issues including Ukraine's neutral status and security guarantees.

With inputs from agencies

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