THE MOST

OUTSTANDING
UKRAINIANS
OF ALL TIMES
Sociological group "Rating" within the
framework of the "People's Top" project
continued the research of outstanding
Ukrainians of all times.
With the help of an open ended question,
the respondents, without receiving any lists
or prompts, named those famous
personalities whom they consider worthy
of this rating.
 1. Taras Shevchenko

Taras Shevchenko once again

became the leader of the "People's
TOP" rating (63.9%). 
Also known as Kobzar Taras, or
simply Kobzar, was a Ukrainian poet,
writer, artist, public and political
figure, folklorist and ethnographer.His
literary heritage is regarded to be the
foundation of modern Ukrainian
literature and, to a large extent, the
modern Ukrainian language, though
this is different from the language of
his poems.
2. Volodymyr Zelenskyi
Volodymyr Zelenskyy was elected
President of Ukraine on April 21, 2019
On 20 May, 2019 sworn in as the
6th President of Ukraine
2000 - Graduated from Kyiv National
Economic University, with a law degree
1997-2003 -  Actor, performer, script
writer, producer of the stand-up comedy
contest team «KVARTAL 95»
2003-2011 - Executive producer,
“KVARTAL 95”, LLC
2011-2012 - Chief Executive, PJSC “Inter
TV Station”
2013-2019 - Executive producer, 
“KVARTAL 95”, LLC
Founded “The League of laughter” NGO. Produced 10 feature
length movies, won more than 30 awards of the National Television
Award of Ukraine "Teletriumph”. President Zelenskyy is a prize-
winner of numerous international film festivals and media forums.
From the outset of the hostilities in Donbas Volodymyr Zelenskyy
and “KVARTAL 95” rendered support to the Armed Forces with
funds, equipment and arranged shows on the front line and in
different military units.
 3. Lesya Ukrainka
Lesya Ukrainka was one of Ukraine's best-
known poets and writers and the foremost
woman writer in Ukrainian literature. She also
was a political, civil, and female activist.
 4. Bohdan Khmelnytskyi
He was a  nobleman and
military commander
of Ukrainian
Cossacks as Hetman of
the Zaporizhian Host, which
was then under the suzerainty of
the Polish–Lythuanian
Commonwealth. He led an
uprising against the
Commonwealth and
its magnates (1648–1654) that
resulted in the creation of an
independent Cossack state in
Ukraine.  
 5. Stepan Bandera
He was a Ukrainian far-
right leader of the
radical, militant wing of
the Organization of
Ukrainian Nationalists.
6. Mykhailo
Hrushevskyi

He was a Ukrainian academician, politician, historian and

statesman who was one of the most important figures of
the Ukrainian national revival of the early 20th century. He is
often considered the country's greatest modern historian, the
foremost organiser of scholarship, the leader of the pre-
revolution Ukrainian national movement, the head of the Central
Rada (Ukraine's 1917–1918 revolutionary parliament), and a
leading cultural figure in the Ukrainian SSR during the 1920s.
 7. Ivan Franko
Franko was a Ukrainian poet, writer, social and literary critic,
journalist, interpreter, economist, political activist, doctor of
philosophy, ethnographer, and the author of the first
detective novels and modern poetry in the Ukrainian language.
He was a political radical, and a founder of the socialist
and nationalist movement in western Ukraine.

In addition to his own literary

work, he also translated the
works of such renowned
figures as William
Shakespeare, Lord
Byron, Pedro Calderón de la
Barca, Dante Alighieri, Victor
Hugo, Adam
Mickiewicz Johann Wolfgang
von Goethe and Friedrich
Schiller into Ukrainian.
 8. Ivan Mazepa
He was a Ukrainian
military, political, and civic
leader who served as
the Hetman of Zaporizhian
Host and the Left-bank
Ukraine in 1687–1708. The
historical events of
Mazepa's life have
inspired many literary,
artistic and musical works.
He was famous as a patron
of the arts.
 9. Vyacheslav
Chornovil

Ukrainian politician,
publicist, prisoner of
Soviet prisons, member of
Ukrainian Parliament. One
of the most prominent
political figures of the
1980s–1990s, Chornovil
paved the way for
contemporary Ukraine to
regain its independence.
 10. Valerii Zaluzhnyi
He is a Ukrainian four-star
general who has served as the
Commander-in-Chief of the
Armed Forces of Ukraine since
27 July 2021.
He is also concurrently a
member of the National
Security and Defense Council
of Ukraine.