Before he became the president of his country, Volodymyr Zelensky was once upon a time a comic actor. In 2019, he contested the presidential as a joke. And then he never expected to win the elections and second he never expected that he would have to witness the century’s biggest standoff between the Kremlin and western powers.
Till late Thursday evening, based on the information from various agencies, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced war against Ukraine and struck that country including Kyiv from three sides targeting airports and infra with missiles & bombs. There have been casualties too.
The Ukrainian President, 44 years old who asked for global support, is now faced with the biggest military challenge since the end of the Cold War three decades ago. Despite calls from the US and other countries, the Russian soldiers surrounded the Ukraine capital. The leader watched Russia surround his country with more than 150,000 soldiers.
What led to this?
In a dramatic standoff, President Zelensky watched Russia declare two rebel held republics in the east — Donetsk and Lugansk as independent. This was followed by an all out attack on his country, when President Putin confirmed “military operation’’.
While the Ukraine President appealed to his Western allies, and called for the European nations to unite, Ambassador Igor Polikha of Ukraine posted in India, sought New Delhi’s support in defusing the situation.
In an interaction with the media persons on Thursday, the envoy of that country said New Delhi can use its proximity with Moscow to help control the situation. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi is among very few leaders whom President Vladimir Putin listens to.”
Meanwhile, after talking with the US President Joe Biden and the French President Emmanuel Macron, President Zelensky imposed martial law.
How did President Zelensky win the elections in 2019 and come into the limelight?
In one of his evening comedy show acts he played the role of a foul-mouthed school teacher who becomes a president after a student of his records his rant against corruption and uploads it online.
The show became a big hit just at the time when Ukraine was seeking a change.
Background
In 2014, Ukraine’s pro-EU revolution managed to remove a Kremlin-backed leader. A new team backed by the West was brought in and that had to deal with a spiraling conflict in the east and an economy heading towards collapse.
The comic show on the television in which the present leader of that country was making crude jokes to his wives and sold the show with a look of panic. This caught the attention of the local population of Ukraine, and President Zelensky at that time as an actor made a small fortune.
In the 2019 elections he defeated his opposition candidate Petro Poroshenko by almost 70 percent of the vote, who was at the time stuck in a major crisis from all sides.
What the Ukrainians did not anticipate was the criticism which followed his election and the unfavorable comparison with other celebrity politicians.
The present situation
He is under pressure from both the Western world and the Russians. The dream of Ukraine to join NATO and the present standoff with Russia is the biggest challenge of his presidency.
When he came to power he tried to communicate with the Russian leader in an effort to stop the separatist conflict in which more than 14,000 lives were claimed. The two held a meeting which was hailed as an important step by President Putin at the time.
The leader of Ukraine was not satisfied and this led to the deterioration of the relations between Russia and Ukraine.