From protagonist on the set of a very successful Ukrainian fiction to victim. In April three years ago, comedian Volodymyr Zelenski was catapulted to the top of Ukraine, transforming into reality what was happening in the fiction of which he was the protagonist, Servant of the People, the same name also given to his electoral party.
His television alter ego was in fact a professor who manages to win the presidency of Ukraine for attacking the atavistic corruption of the country’s ruling class online. At just 41 years old, Zelensky is therefore president of Ukraine, Country torn apart by the war that began in 2014 when Russia “annexed” Crimea supporting the separatists of what would later become the self-declared “republics” of Donetsk and Lugansk.
Now, at the age of 44 a month ago, he finds himself having to defend his country from an invasion that he defines as “enemy”. In the diplomatic skirmishes of the weeks leading up to today’s plunging events, Zelenski was very active and traveled around the world seeking and finding the reassurance of the European Union, NATO and the G7. At the time of his entry into politics, Zelenski was compared to the Italian Beppe Grillo.
Until less than three years ago, he had always stressed that he was not a politician, but “just a simple person, who came to break this system”. An actor, in anti-establishment words, took the reins of an economically prostrate country at war for 5 years, in its eastern regions.
Due to his inexperience, it was said in 2019, was in danger of being wiped out by Russian President Vladimir Putin; some, however, like former rival and outgoing head of state Petro Poroshenko, called him a puppet of the Kremlin; others thought he was completely dependent on the oligarch who fled to Tel Aviv, Igor Kolomoisky, whose TV ‘1 + 1’ hosted the series that had given him popularity.
In his time, thanks to this inexperience, the comedian managed to break the traditional geographical division between West and East by unifying the electorate. Ukrainians were tired of years of broken promises and Poroshenko, although he had managed to keep the country on its feet and implement feeble reforms, had not managed to improve economic conditions and living standards, nor to eradicate rampant corruption. .
The president has since surrounded himself with expert advisors also to ensure that he will keep the commitments set out in the financial aid program of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), on which Ukraine depends. The country had emerged from a severe recession in 2014-2015, but the reforms are still partly unfinished.