From the small screen to the forefront of the international scene. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a former television star, has transformed since the launch of the Russian military invasion on Thursday February 24 into a warlord. Faced with the advance of Vladimir Putin’s troops, the 44-year-old leader assured that his soldiers were doing “everything possible” to defend the country.
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A novice in politics until his accession to power in 2019, Volodymyr Zelensky has worked in recent months to erase his inexperience, which had made him popular, in an attempt to build himself a stature of a statesman capable of standing up to Vladimir Putin.
His political adventure begins as a farce. Since 2015, Volodymyr Zelensky has played the leading role in an almost prescient hit series, broadcast on the Ukrainian channel 1+1. In servant of the people, he plays Vasyl Petrovych Holoborodko, a history professor who came to power by chance. This novice, naive and honest president, who lives with his parents and travels by bicycle, then struggles to fight against political corruption.
The series is “the biggest success in the history of Ukrainian television”underlined Wojciech Kononczuk, head of the Ukrainian department of the Center for Oriental Studies, with franceinfo in 2019. “Everyone dreams[ait] of a president like Holoborodko”assured the director of the series, Aleksey Kiryushchenko.
Volodymyr Zelensky gets caught up in the game and aims to turn fiction into reality. In 2017, still appearing in the series, he changed the name of the party of which he was a member. The fledgling Decisive Change Party was renamed Servant of the People, playing confusion between actor and character. From the summer of 2018, the popularity of Zelensky is tested in election polls. On December 31, the actor declared his candidacy. He invites himself into a presidential race which promised to be a duel between the outgoing president, Petro Poroshenko, and the former Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko.
Originally from an industrial city in the south of the country, Russian-speaking, Volodymyr Zelensky is campaigning on dialogue with Russia to end the conflict in the Donbass. He promises to “fighting for peace in Ukraine”to ensure a “victory against corruption”to make his fellow citizens “thriving” and to exercise their will expressed “via referendums” regular. Giving, however, few details on his program.
“I don’t have experience but I have enough strength and energy.”
Volodomyr Zelenskyto AFP in March 2019
In April 2019, he won more than 73% of the vote in the second round of the election against Petro Poroshenko, and became, at 41, the youngest president in the history of Ukraine. “I will never let you down”he promises on the evening of his victory.
Volodymyr Zelensky “was elected because he was not tainted by corruption cases that tarnish the image of the political class”analysis for Le Figaro (subscribers) Carole Grimaud Potter, professor of geopolitics of Russia at the University of Montpellier and at the Diplomatic Institute of Paris. “Electing him was playing a carte blanche, betting on a character known to all”adds the specialist.
Three months later, his party won an absolute majority in Parliament. Despite this success at the polls, the costume of head of state seems a bit big for Volodymyr Zelensky. “We thought he was not going to make the weight”comments Cécile Vaissié, professor at the University of Rennes 2, in the columns of Parisian (subscribers).
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In the early days of his term, Volodymyr Zelensky was aaccused of being naive vis-à-vis Vladimir Putin, as recalled The World (subscribers). In August 2019, he said, for example, that all you need to do is “look into each other’s eyes” with the Russians and “end this war”.
The renewed tension with Moscow since the fall of 2021 marks a turning point in his presidency. These last weeks, “he won the stature of a head of state”deciphers Cécile Vaissié at Parisian. His tone hardened against Vladimir Putin. “He was extremely firm against someone who wants war, but there was never any aggression”notes the university. “He is no longer the same man as at the start of his mandate. He realized that he was dealing with a tough, predatory and cynical adversary, hostile to any compromise”advance to World Oleksiy Melnyk, co-director of the Razumkov think tank in Kiev.
Volodymyr Zelensky does his best to reassure his fellow citizens, even when Washington warns, in an increasingly alarmist tone, that a war “imminent” can start “without notice”. “What should we do? Only one thing: stay calm”he repeated in January in an address to his 40 million fellow citizens. As Russia announces the dispatch of its troops to Ukraine on Thursday, it is in a video message on social networks that he calls on his fellow citizens not to panic before establishing martial law.
In adversity, Volodymyr Zelensky keeps “a higher level of popularity than its predecessors”, says to franceinfo Antoine Arjakovsky, historian, director of research at the Collège des Bernardins and specialist in Ukraine.
“The Ukrainians have a superior force compared to Russia: they unite around Zelensky.”
Antoine Arjakovsky, historianat franceinfo
Recent events also reinforce its international stature. At the Munich Security Conference on February 18, the participants gave him a standing ovation even before he spoke, to show their support and unity with Moscow. The Elysée welcomes the “cold blood” of the Ukrainian president, who has multiplied calls with his counterparts, including Emmanuel Macron, in recent days.
Volodymyr Zelensky does not hesitate either to raise his voice in front of his partners. “Who is ready to fight with us? I don’t see anyone”, launched the head of state on Friday, his face scarred. “Who is ready to guarantee Ukraine NATO membership? Everybody’s scared”he again denounced, while the Atlantic Alliance, which Ukraine wishes to join, declared that it had no “no intention to deploy troops in this country”. The Ukrainian president also castigated the “slow” European response to the Russian invasion. Ukraine is “left alone” in this theater of war. “How are you going to defend yourselves if you are so slow in helping Ukraine?” he scoffed.