Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy, born on January 25, 1978, is a Ukrainian politician and former comedian and actor who currently serves as the sixth president of Ukraine, assuming office in 2019.
Coming from a Ukrainian Jewish family, Zelenskyy grew up as a native Russian speaker in Kryvyi Rih, a major city in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, central Ukraine. He obtained a degree in law from the Kyiv National Economic University before pursuing a career in comedy. Zelenskyy established the production company Kvartal 95, which produced films, cartoons, and TV shows, including the widely popular TV series “Servant of the People,” where he portrayed a fictional Ukrainian president. The show aired from 2015 to 2019 and was a major success, leading to the creation of a political party with the same name by employees of Kvartal 95 in March 2018.
Announcing his candidacy for the 2019 presidential election on December 31, 2018, during the New Year’s Eve address of then-president Petro Poroshenko on 1+1 TV channel, Zelenskyy quickly emerged as one of the leading contenders in opinion polls. His outsider status and anti-establishment, anti-corruption stance resonated with the public, leading to his victory with 73.23 percent of the vote in the second round, defeating Poroshenko. As president, Zelenskyy advocates for e-government and seeks to promote unity among the Ukrainian- and Russian-speaking segments of the population.
Zelenskyy’s communication style is marked by extensive use of social media, particularly Instagram. His party secured a landslide victory in the snap legislative election held shortly after he assumed the presidency. In his first two years in office, Zelenskyy focused on eliminating legal immunity for members of parliament, handling the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic recession, and making limited progress in combatting corruption.
During his presidential campaign, Zelenskyy pledged to resolve Ukraine’s ongoing conflict with Russia and has made efforts to engage in dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin. His administration faced heightened tensions with Russia in 2021, culminating in a full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022. Throughout the military buildup, Zelenskyy aimed to reassure the Ukrainian populace and the international community that Ukraine was not seeking retaliation. He initially downplayed warnings of an imminent war while seeking security guarantees and military support from NATO to counter the threat. After the invasion began, Zelenskyy declared martial law across Ukraine and initiated a general mobilization of the armed forces. His leadership during the crisis earned widespread international praise, and he has been hailed as a symbol of Ukrainian resistance. Zelenskyy was recognized as the Time Person of the Year for 2022, and opinion polls in Ukraine have ranked him as the country’s most esteemed president.
Early life
Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy was born on January 25, 1978, in Kryvyi Rih, which was part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic at the time. His parents, Oleksandr Zelenskyy and Rymma Zelenska, have a background in academia and engineering, respectively. His father is a computer scientist and a professor, serving as the head of the Department of Cybernetics and Computing Hardware at the Kryvyi Rih State University of Economics and Technology.
Zelenskyy’s family history is deeply affected by historical events. His grandfather, Semyon Ivanovych Zelenskyy, was a war veteran who fought as an infantryman in the Red Army during World War II, achieving the rank of colonel in the 57th Guards Motor Rifle Division. Tragically, Semyon lost his father and three brothers during the Holocaust. Zelenskyy revealed that his great-grandparents were also victims of a massacre when German troops burned their home to the ground.
Before attending elementary school, Zelenskyy spent four years living in the Mongolian city of Erdenet, where his father worked. During his formative years, Zelenskyy primarily spoke Russian. At the age of 16, he demonstrated his academic prowess by passing the Test of English as a Foreign Language and was awarded an education grant to study in Israel. However, his father decided against allowing him to go.
Zelenskyy later pursued and obtained a law degree from the Kryvyi Rih Institute of Economics, which was then a department of Kyiv National Economic University and is now a part of Kryvyi Rih National University. Despite his legal education, he did not pursue a career in the legal field.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s personal history, shaped by family experiences and academic pursuits, has significantly influenced his life journey and the role he now plays as the President of Ukraine.
Entertainment career
At the age of 17, Volodymyr Zelenskyy began his journey in the world of comedy by joining his local team for the KVN comedy competition. His talent quickly gained recognition, and he was invited to join the united Ukrainian team “Zaporizhia-Kryvyi Rih-Transit,” competing in KVN’s Major League. In 1997, Zelenskyy’s team emerged victorious in the competition. The same year, he founded the comedy outfit Kvartal 95, which achieved significant success in KVN and embarked on a series of performances and tours in post-Soviet countries, including Moscow.
Transitioning to the entertainment industry, Zelenskyy starred in various films, including “Love in the Big City” and its sequels, “Office Romance: Our Time,” and “Rzhevsky Versus Napoleon.” He also lent his voice to the Ukrainian dubbing of “Paddington” and “Paddington 2.”
Aside from his acting career, Zelenskyy held a prominent role as a member of the board and general producer of the TV channel Inter from 2010 to 2012. He voiced his opposition to banning Russian artists from Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War, and some of his works faced bans in Ukraine and Russia due to various controversies.
In 2015, Zelenskyy’s breakthrough came with the television series “Servant of the People,” where he portrayed a high-school history teacher who becomes the president of Ukraine after a viral video denouncing government corruption.
In addition to his entertainment ventures, Zelenskyy has been involved in offshore businesses, as revealed by the Pandora Papers in 2021. Despite his campaign promises to clean up the government of Ukraine during the 2019 election, it was disclosed that Zelenskyy and key aides operated offshore companies in various jurisdictions.
Throughout his remarkable journey from a comedian to becoming the President of Ukraine, Zelenskyy has navigated multiple realms, showcasing his talent, influence, and involvement in both the entertainment industry and the political landscape of his country.
2019 presidential campaign
In March 2018, members of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s production company, Kvartal 95, established a new political party called “Servant of the People,” the same name as the popular television program where Zelenskyy had starred. While he initially denied immediate plans to enter politics, there was widespread speculation that he might run for president. By October 2018, he was already a frontrunner in opinion polls, although he had not officially declared his candidacy. On 31 December, less than four months before the presidential election, Zelenskyy announced his candidacy during a New Year’s Eve show on TV channel 1+1, unintentionally upstaging the incumbent president Petro Poroshenko’s address on the same channel.
Zelenskyy’s presidential campaign was notably unconventional, primarily relying on social media and YouTube to connect with voters, as well as performing stand-up comedy routines across Ukraine with his production company. He positioned himself as an anti-establishment and anti-corruption figure, aiming to restore trust in politicians and bring professional and decent people to power.
During the campaign, concerns were raised about his links to oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi, who controlled the 1+1 Media Group, which broadcast the “Servant of the People” TV series. Despite these concerns, Zelenskyy secured a clear victory in the first round of elections and won the second round with 73% of the vote, becoming the President of Ukraine.
His victory was met with congratulations from various world leaders, including Polish President Andrzej Duda, French President Emmanuel Macron, U.S. President Donald Trump, European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker, and European Council President Donald Tusk. The European Union pledged to expedite the implementation of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, including the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area, in response to Zelenskyy’s election.
Presidency
After being inaugurated on 20 May 2019, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy began implementing various proposals and reforms. His initiatives faced challenges and opposition from some political factions.
Zelenskyy’s first major proposal to change the electoral system from a plurality voting system to proportional representation with closed party lists was rejected by the Ukrainian parliament. The move was opposed due to concerns that closed lists could lead to increased corruption in government.
In June 2019, lawmakers refused to include Zelenskyy’s key initiative on reintroducing criminal liability for illegal enrichment in the parliament’s agenda. However, in September of the same year, after the parliamentary election, a bill was passed to strip lawmakers of legal immunity, fulfilling one of Zelenskyy’s key campaign promises.
In 2020, Zelenskyy’s party proposed media reforms to increase competition and reduce the dominance of Ukrainian oligarchs in television and radio broadcasting. Critics argued that it risked media censorship, as the clause on criminal responsibility for the distribution of disinformation could be misused.
In January 2021, parliament passed a bill updating and reforming Ukraine’s referendum laws, a promise made during Zelenskyy’s campaign. This move followed a ruling by Ukraine’s Constitutional Court in 2018 that had declared the previous referendum laws unconstitutional.
Zelenskyy also submitted a bill in June 2021 to create a public registry of Ukraine’s oligarchs, aiming to reduce their influence on politics and ban them from participating in privatizations of state-owned companies. The bill was passed into law in September 2021, with some opposition leaders criticizing it as potentially dangerous, concentrating power in the president and being ineffective in addressing deeper-rooted corruption issues.
Critics of Zelenskyy’s administration have accused him of centralizing authority and strengthening his personal position by challenging the influence of Ukrainian oligarchs. Additionally, there were instances of criticism over issues related to transparency, such as a trip to Oman that was not initially published on his official schedule, leading to questions about his handling of government business and personal holidays.
Personal life
In September 2003, Volodymyr Zelenskyy married Olena Kiyashko, whom he had known since their school and university days. Olena worked as a scriptwriter at Kvartal 95, the production company that Zelenskyy founded. The couple has two children together. Their first daughter, Oleksandra, was born in July 2004, and their son, Kyrylo, was born in January 2013. Interestingly, in Zelenskyy’s 2014 movie “8 New Dates,” their daughter played a role as Sasha, the daughter of the film’s protagonist. Olena and Zelenskyy’s daughter also participated in the show “The Comedy Comet Company Comedy’s Kids” in 2016 and won a prize of ₴50,000. The family resides in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.
Zelenskyy is multilingual, with his first language being Russian. He is also fluent in Ukrainian and English. As of 2018, his declared assets were valued at approximately ₴37 million (around US$1.5 million).