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Volodymyr Zelenskyy
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"Zelensky" redirects here. For the surname, see
Zelensky (surname).

In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming

conventions, the patronymic is Oleksandrovych
and the family name is Zelenskyy.

Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy[a]

(born 25 January 1978), also transliterated as
Zelensky or Zelenskiy,[b] is a Ukrainian
politician and former comedian and actor[4]
who has served as the sixth and current
president of Ukraine since 2019.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Володимир Зеленсьĸий

Official portrait, 2019

6th President of Ukraine

Incumbent

Assumed office
20 May 2019

Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman

Oleksiy Honcharuk

Denys Shmyhal

Preceded by Petro Poroshenko

Personal details

Born 25 January 1978

(age 44)
Kryvyi Rih, Ukrainian
SSR, Soviet Union
(now Ukraine)

Political party Independent[1]

Other political Servant of the People

affiliations (2018–present)

Spouse Olena Kiyashko (m. 2003)

Children 2

Parent Oleksandr Zelenskyy

(father)

Residence Mariinskyi Palace

Education Kyiv National

Economic University
(LLB)

Occupation Politician • actor •

comedian

Signature

Website president.gov.ua/en

Born to a Ukrainian Jewish family, Zelenskyy

grew up as a native Russian speaker in Kryvyi
Rih, a major city of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast in
central Ukraine. Prior to his acting career, he
obtained a degree in law from the Kyiv National
Economic University. He then pursued a career
in comedy and created the production
company Kvartal 95, which produced films,
cartoons, and TV shows including the TV
series Servant of the People, in which
Zelenskyy played the role of the Ukrainian
president. The series aired from 2015 to 2019
and was immensely popular. A political party
bearing the same name as the television show
was created in March 2018 by employees of
Kvartal 95.

Zelenskyy announced his candidacy in the

2019 Ukrainian presidential election on the
evening of 31 December 2018, alongside the
New Year's Eve address of then-president
Petro Poroshenko on the TV channel 1+1. A
political outsider, he had already become one
of the frontrunners in opinion polls for the
election. He won the election with
73.23 percent of the vote in the second round,
defeating Poroshenko. He has positioned
himself as an anti-establishment and anti-
corruption figure.

As president, Zelenskyy has been a proponent

of e-government and of unity between the
Ukrainian- and Russian-speaking parts of the
country's population.[5]: 11–13  His
communication style heavily uses social media,
particularly Instagram.[5]: 7–10  His party won a
landslide victory in the snap legislative election
held shortly after his inauguration as president.
During his administration, Zelenskyy oversaw
the lifting of legal immunity for members of
parliament (the Verkhovna Rada),[6] the
country's response to the COVID-19 pandemic
and subsequent economic recession, and
some progress in tackling corruption in
Ukraine.[7][8]

During his presidential campaign, Zelenskyy

promised to end Ukraine's protracted conflict
with Russia, and he has attempted to engage in
dialogue with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
[9] His administration faced an escalation of
tensions with Russia in 2021, culminating in the
launch of the ongoing full-scale Russian
invasion in February 2022. Zelenskyy's
strategy during the Russian military buildup
was to calm the Ukrainian populace and assure
the international community that Ukraine was
not seeking to retaliate.[10] He initially
distanced himself from warnings of an
imminent war, while also calling for security
guarantees and military support from NATO to
"withstand" the threat.[11] After the start of the
invasion, Zelenskyy declared martial law across
Ukraine and a general mobilisation of the
armed forces. His leadership during the crisis
has won him widespread international praise,
and he has been described as a symbol of the
Ukrainian resistance.[12][13] Social polls have
ranked Zelenskyy among Ukraine's greatest
presidents.[14][15][16][17]

Early life

Entertainment career

2019 presidential campaign

Presidency

Political views

Personal life

Awards and decorations

Selected filmography

Notes

References

External links

Last edited 2 days ago by Bigbullfro…

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