This is the comedian and actor who became president. He was called a clown and protege of the oligarchs. He was offered to evacuate from war-torn Ukraine, but he stayed.
While world leaders are sticking their heads in the sand, he is at the head of a country that is not afraid to rebuff Putin himself, whom even NATO fears. Volodymyr Zelenskyy - who is he? Just an eloquent clown, or a strong leader worthy of his people?
Today on the Biographer channel we’ll talk about how Volodymyr Zelenskyy became the face of Ukrainian resistance. Ready? Let’s go!
CHILDHOOD *44 years before the war with Russia* Volodymyr Zelenskiy was born on January 25, 1978 in Kryvyi Rih, a large city in central Ukraine. Volodymyr's family was rather intelligent and had a high level of culture. His father was a professor and candidate of technical sciences, and his mother devoted all her time to raising her son.
Before entering elementary school, Zelenskyy lived for four years in the Mongolian city of Erdenet, where his father worked. …These are the most important people in my life. They gave me basic things: they gave me education, they gave me exactly this painful feeling.
. . a painful perception of the world, a painful feeling of lies, untruths.
. . And why do I always react so painfully to any lies on the Internet.
Returning to Ukraine, the family settled in a quarter called by the inhabitants of Kryvyi Rih "Anthill" (ukr. Murashnyk, rus. Muraveynik).
Zelenskyy was a good student and class leader. In addition, he was involved in weightlifting and basketball, for some time he was fond of ballroom dancing, and also mastered the piano and guitar, which he played in the school ensemble and theatrical productions. He was always in the center of attention and loved to perform on stage.
Not a single school event was complete without the charismatic and artistic boy. During his last school years, Zelenskiy thought about his future more than once, and he saw it in diplomacy. At the age of 16, he passed an English proficiency test and received an educational grant to study in Israel, but his father didn’t allow him to go.
Then Volodymyr entered the Kryvyi Rih State University of Economics and Technology, where he received a law degree. However, he didn’t work a single day in his specialty, except for a 2-month practice. Law turned out to be too boring for him.
Quote: I remember walking into and out of the courtroom with the full adequate understanding that I must leave this stage in search of my own one. And the scene was found very quickly. Already from the first year he had another strong hobby, which forced out all the others.
At the age of 17, Zelenskyy joined the local KVN team (From Russian this abbreviation means “Club of the Funny and Inventive”). In the CIS countries, this is a popular comedy competition where teams from different countries take part. Players prepare several humorous performances on given topics and show them to the jury.
Zelenskiy was noticed and invited to the united Ukrainian team Zaporizhzhia-Kryvyi Rih-Transit, which played in the Major League and won in 1997. Initially, Zelenskiy was not in the main cast, but simply helped with the scenery and taught his comrades dancing. But gradually he won the place of the actor.
Later, Volodymyr and several of his close comrades decided to create their own team, which they called the "95th Quarter" (ukr. kvartal) in honor of one of the districts in Kryvyi Rih. Volodymyr Zelenskiy became not only a captain and an actor, but also the author of most of their numbers.
Upon realizing that his son wasn’t going to work as a lawyer, and seeing how he was increasingly captured by the scene, Zelenskiy's father was shocked. He wanted Volodymyr to have a serious profession, an academic degree and stability. Acting career, of course, didn’t imply any stability.
But his father's discontent didn’t stop Zelenskiy. From 1998 to 2003, the "95th Quarter" performed in the Higher League of KVN. The team members almost lived in Moscow and constantly toured the CIS countries.
But in 2003, the team's relationship with the leadership of KVN began to deteriorate. At some point, Zelenskiy was offered to stay in KVN, but without his team - just as an author and editor. However, Volodymyr refused to leave his friends and left KVN with his team.
Thus began the history of the creation of a large studio. BUSINESS *19 years before the war with Russia* Having ended their career in KVN, most of the team members were confused and demoralized. The only thing they were sure of was that they couldn’t completely leave the stage and their favorite pastime.
Therefore, Zelenskyy and his friends decided on a bold and even insane step. They went to Kyiv in order to create a company within which they could implement original creative ideas, produce and promote their own TV projects and entertainment shows. The company was named after the team - Kvartal 95 Studio.
The first step on their way was the organization of their own humorous concert - "Vechirniy Kvartal" (Evening Quarter). The search for sponsors, premises and equipment began. Actors, comedians and screenwriters temporarily became managers, producers and call center operators.
They called concert venues and investors, and most importantly, looked for a TV channel that could record their concert. Quote: We initially destroyed the stereotype about creating a business. Because I’ve always believed that more can be achieved through trust.
When people are passionate about one goal. They were predicted to fail. They said that show business is a closed world, into which one cannot break through without connections and big money.
But the team had a powerful engine - Zelenskiy. He believed in success and supported his comrades. After all, they were more than just partners.
They were all friends first and foremost, and that was their strength. Finally, the team's hard work was rewarded. In December 2003, the company, together with the Ukrainian TV channel "1+1 Studio", began production of a cycle of 5 concerts dedicated to the most significant holidays of 2004.
The bold experiment was supported by other comedians not related to their original team, as well as show business stars. The concert became a bright celebration of humor, from which the audience was completely delighted. After the success of the programs, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his team were invited to one of the largest Ukrainian TV channels – Inter.
But they had one condition: they must add more political humor to their repertoire. Since then, the concerts of the "Evening Quarter" are not complete without satirical performances about political events in Ukraine and the world. “Evening Quarter” is difficult to attribute to any one genre.
Someone calls this show a political cabaret, someone calls it a theater of political satire. With each new concert, political jokes became tougher. The actors made the audience applaud, and made their relatives get anxious.
The Evening Quarter never spared politicians and openly ridiculed their vices. Sometimes it seemed that after another sharp joke, the program would simply be closed. But, despite the fear of loved ones, the authors continued to play on the verge of a foul.
Quote: It's great fun to come and tell jokes, knowing you're free to do it. You are not engaged and you are not fulfilling anyone's mission. The audience fell in love with the "Evening Quarter" and its actors.
And Volodymyr Zelenskiy became not only its key actor, but also an ideologist, author and director. The year 2003 for Zelenskyy was also notable for another event. He married Olena Kiyashko, with whom he went to school together and played in KVN.
Olena has been one of the screenwriters of the “Kvartal 95 Studio” since its inception. A year after the wedding, the couple had a daughter, Oleksandra. And in 2013, the son of Kyrylo was born to the Zelenskiy family.
The studio didn’t stop at concerts. Soon, other projects of Kvartal 95 began to appear on various television channels in Ukraine. For example, a morning show and humorous programs.
(“Made in Ukraine” (ukr. Porobleno v Ukraini), “Ukraine, get up! ” (ukr.
Ukraino, Vstavai! ) ) In 2006, Zelenskiy won the Ukrainian version of the show “Dancing with the Stars”. After the success in this project, Zelenskiy became one of the most popular people of Ukrainian television.
He regularly starred in New Year's musicals, took part in various television shows, hosted concerts, wrote television and film scripts. Nevertheless, his main project has always been the "Evening Quarter". The following year, the company started to conquer cinema, and we must say, they became rather successful.
To date, the team has more than 16 films and series, which have become very popular both in Ukraine and in Russia. And some even beyond. For example, the comedy series “Svaty” (from ukr.
- In-laws) was shortlisted for the Monte Carlo Television Festival in the International TV Audience Comedy category next to such series as “The Big Bang Theory”. It is interesting that in one of the films of the studio - "8 first dates" Zelenskiy's daughter played the role of the daughter of his hero. From 2010 to 2012, Zelenskiy was the General Producer of the “Inter” TV channel.
In subsequent years, “Kvartal 95”, under the leadership of Zelenskiy and his partners, released many original TV formats. He held festivals of humor, helping young, yet unknown comedians and actors to realize themselves in their favorite business. But in 2014, the lives of many Ukrainians changed forever.
The Revolution of Dignity, the annexation of Crimea, and then the military conflict in the Donbass were a heavy blow, but still didn’t unsettle the team of the Evening Quarter. Actors and authors decided that in this difficult time for the country, they should do what they do best - cheer up their people. Quote: After 2014, some people from Moscow, seeing my inner life position, stopped talking to me.
And there were channel managers (it’s clear that we, as producers, had some personal and business relationships), but they just all disappeared. The studio didn’t stay away from what was happening. Zelenskyy, together with his colleagues, gave volunteer concerts for Ukrainian soldiers, bought ambulances and donated funds to the needs of participants in the Antiterrorist Operation (War in Donbas).
SERVANT OF THE PEOPLE 8 years before the war with Russia The introduction-series of Volodymyr Zelenskyy “Servant of the People”, where he starred as the President of Ukraine, first appeared on screens in 2015. In the series, Zelenskyy played a 30-year-old high school history teacher who won the presidential election after his student posted a video online of the main character talking loudly about corruption in Ukraine. If they would just send me there for one week, if it was possible.
. . I would get them all!
Tuples - fuck off! Your damn benefits – fuck off! Chalets - fuck off!
Fuck off everyone, so a simple teacher could live like a president, and the president would live like a teacher! Then the series was watched by about 20 million Ukrainians, and already in 2016 the full-length film "Servant of the People-2" was released with a box office of $1 million. On it’s base, another season of the series was released in 2017.
It was after this that semi-joking, semi-serious conversations began among Ukrainians that Zelenskyy could become president in real life. Quote: I always wanted to help the country or people who are engaged in the organization of the state. .
. but there was no such idea - to come to political life through the series. It came out by itself.
It happens. In 2017, a lawyer at Kvartal 95 Studio registered a political party of the same name. The series and its protagonist have become so popular that in a September 2018 study by three research centers, Zelenskyy was ranked third in a poll of "who would you vote for if the elections were held soon.
" But I know the one thing: You must act in such a way that later you would not be ashamed to look into the eyes of children. The actor himself was repeatedly asked about the possibility of becoming president in various interviews, but he was always evasive. But soon Zelenskyy nevertheless showed his hands.
THE PRESIDENT 3 years before the war with Russia On December 31, a few minutes before 2019, Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed to Ukrainians on the 1+1 TV channel, where he stated that he intended to run for the 2019 presidential election. At that time, Zelenskyy had long been not just a comedian, but a producer of a large studio and a businessman. But for lots of Ukrainians, he remained the funny guy from the Evening Quarter.
At first, no one seriously believed that a popular comedian would become president. Zelenskyy's decision was seen as a joke and part of the show. And many believed in the possibility of his victory in much the same way as in the existence of UFOs.
One of the authors of the “Ukrayinska Pravda” (from ukr. - Ukrainian Truth) publication even wrote on Facebook a few days before the second round: "Zelenskyy will never become president. Remember this post.
" In January 2019, Zelenskyy complimented and joked a lot during meetings with journalists. He tried to dilute the serious atmosphere with humor and demonstrate that he is “a simple guy” On January 21, the Servant of the People party nominated him as a candidate for the presidency of Ukraine. On the same day, the Ukrayinska Pravda newspaper published an interview in which Zelenskyy stated that if he won the presidential election, he would negotiate a ceasefire in Donbas.
Quote "These agreements, I think, are not very complicated. It seems to me that we can agree. The first thing is to stop killing.
It is important to save our people" The publication critically assessed Volodymyr's election campaign, noting that "Zelenskyy's team was conducting a non-standard presidential campaign, which resembled not a political process, but a nationwide show. " The main promises of the future president were: settlement of the situation in the East of Ukraine. In particular, return the temporarily occupied territories and force the aggressor to compensate for the damage caused creating a professional army and providing the military with competitive UN-level salaries removal of immunity from the President, people's deputies and judges At the end of January, Zelenskyy came out on top in the election polls for the first time.
According to a survey of three sociological companies, Volodymyr Zelenskyy had 23% of the vote, and his two main opponents - 16. 4% and 15. 7%.
By February, Zelenskyy's rating rose to 25-30%, and in mid-March he became the absolute leader of the presidential race. Zelenskyy said that he would only serve one term in the presidency. Meanwhile, in March, the 3rd season of the series “Servant of the People” was released.
However, the show received three times fewer viewers than the first season, as well as numerous criticisms due to signs of political agitation. The election campaign of the future president was carried out under the slogan "Let's do it together! ".
For three months, Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave several interviews, but didn’t hold a single press conference for the all-Ukrainian media. Journalists heard and saw his statements from YouTube videos, and also listened to comments of representatives of the election headquarters, which gave the experts reason to call Mr Zelenskyy a "virtual candidate", a "hologram" and a "wrapper". This is my approach.
This is my information policy. I bet on it from the very beginning. There are rare appearances that unite people, bring them together… Promises and non-standard personality of the candidate worked.
As a result of passing two rounds, Volodymyr Zelenskyy won a decisive number of votes and won the presidential election. On May 20, 2019, the inauguration ceremony took place in the building of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, during which Volodymyr Zelenskyy took the oath as head of state. By the way, more than 50 foreign delegations were invited to the inauguration and were present, but representatives of Russia were not invited.
Already this small moment indirectly marked the attitude of the future president in the contact of world politics. In his first speech as president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared: "there are no right or wrong" Ukrainians, and called on Ukrainians - "those who were born on Ukrainian land" - to return to their homeland. Quote: “I can assure that in order for our heroes not to die anymore, I am ready for anything.
And I'm definitely not afraid to make tough decisions. " And soon Volodymyr Zelenskyy got the opportunity to prove his words in practice. But before that - more than two and a half years of presidency, the path of trial and error.
The first year in the political life of the president was ambiguous. Still, the lack of experience and real skills were the main reason. It concerned a number of areas of the country's life.
The foreign policy course of the country corresponded to the initial statement and was aimed at establishing strong relations with the EU and NATO countries. Co-Director of Foreign Policy and International Security Programs Mykhailo Pashkov marked: Quote: "The authorities have managed to maintain, to some extent, the support and solidarity of the world's leading countries and international organizations. " Among the positive actions were held: the Ukraine-EU summit, the commission meeting and the resumption of the negotiations of the Normandy Four at the highest level, Ukraine was visited by the NATO Euro-Atlantic Council, and also joined the NATO Enhanced Opportunities Program.
But at the same time, Zelenskyy's main promise to end the war in Donbas had not been fulfilled. Moreover, there were a number of concessions in relations with Russia, which by itself was regarded by the aggressor country as indulgence and passivity. In the field of legal policy, there were trends towards strengthening presidential power and an attempt to make significant changes to the Constitution of Ukraine in order to weaken representative institutions.
Some believed that, despite the presence of a considerable number of correctly set tasks, Zelenskyy's political platform didn’t show signs of a holistic concept of economic reforms and economic modernization of the country. As a result, the entire economic policy in such conditions turned into a set of weakly coordinated actions. Zelenskyy became much more serious this year.
He learned to speak like a politician: avoid sharp questions, cut corners, shift accents, intrigue and understate. But humor remained his main defense and weapon. And the image of a “simple guy” is still one of the main roles in the President’s “piggy bank” (/in his cap) We stopped at a gas station .
. . I really like this.
We stopped at a gas station, and there was a small shop. They cut for us some t doctor's sausage, cut some black bread and gave Coca Cola. That’s all.
At the same time, reforms were being carried out in the field of defense of the country, personnel were being replaced and weapons were being reformed. A step was taken towards the possibility of acquiring imported weapons, new commands were created, which reflected the trend towards bringing the AFU (Armed Forces of Ukraine) control system closer to NATO standards. Along with foreign visits, for three months Volodymyr Zelenskyy also actively traveled around Ukraine and communicated with local officials.
And quite often he allowed himself not to choose words, resorting to harsh expressions and demands to leave the post. The closer to the parliamentary elections, the more spectacular all showdowns became. I suggest you start working like normal people.
Do not talk about small salaries, do not complain. There is a time when you can become really, without pathetic words of patriots, just become professionals and just work. “Get out of here, robber”, “Sell the Land Cruiser.
. . for the sake of the people”, “Write a statement (/application)” - were already included in the “golden” collection of presidential quotes.
Volodymyr Zelenskyyy, in personal communication with local heads, in principle, is not shy about ordinary speech and speaks as he is. Will you fix this? Or it will just hang by a single hair?
In addition, the President was at the forefront and tried to support the armed forces, negotiated with Putin and canceled one and a half hundred decrees of his predecessors, arguing that the purpose of business deregulation and their obsolescence. As a result, by the end of the first year of his reign, Volodymyr Zelenskyy remained with a fairly high credibility of citizens. According to the director of political and legal programs Viktor Zamyatin: Quote: None of the other current Ukrainian politicians even comes close to the level of trust that society demonstrates in the President.
In one of the interviews, Volodymyr Zelenskyy admitted that he didn’t regret that he changed his acting career to the Presidency. He indicated that it was important for him not so much “during” as “after”: “and I still want to remain president, so that they say: we respect you, not everything was perfect, but nevertheless, everything was not bad. ” Let’s be honest: is this really difficult without any experience ?
- Very difficult. This is quite another world, you weren’t taught that . - That’s right.
Life taught me. The next year was complicated in many ways by the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic. This greatly influenced the economic sphere: both around the world and in Ukraine.
By the end of the second year of Volodymyr Zelenskyy's term, more than 600 promises had accumulated behind him. 28% of them were fulfilled, and about 50% were in the process of being fulfilled. Parliamentary immunity was abolished, long-term credit support programs for businesses and citizens were introduced, and the minimum wage was raised.
The implementation of the “Great Construction” program was in the process, which included the repair of 6,500 km of roads and bridges throughout Ukraine. Foreign policy was largely shaped by the talks on Donbas, or lack thereof. Therefore, this topic influenced all other areas of the country's foreign policy of this period.
It had such tendencies as: an emphasis on the importance of respect for Ukraine from international partners and on economic diplomacy. Or in simple terms – the search for money for the development of the state. But in the presence of many strategies, specific ways to achieve the goals weren’t clearly identified.
Thus, Pavlo Klimkin, Minister of Foreign Affairs, for his part, noted that over the past 2. 5 years, there had been more emotions and statements in Ukraine's foreign policy. There became less trust.
Quote: "Being under the frenzied pressure of the Russian regime, under the possibility of large-scale military provocations, we must re-analyze the sphere of national security, where there are many strategies and few real steps, and the sphere of foreign policy, where our game is quite limited today" In general, the process of regulating the situation in Donbas can be conditionally divided into several stages: from the period of flirting with Moscow, attempts to shift the dialogue along the lines of the classic Normandy format to toughening the positions of both sides. Kyiv showed that Ukraine was not ready to make concessions and surrender its own territories and didn’t recognize puppet local governments. Moscow began to move away from the format of negotiations during 2021, increased pressure and also didn’t want to give in.
Gradually, the issue of Donbass became a stumbling block, which reflected the real situation of forces in the international field. It also outlined a number of problems in relations between Russia and the West. In part, the rigidity of the policy is also connected with personal changes in the internal state of Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
In an interview, he said that the experience of the presidency made him tougher and "less naive. " He encountered different people of the country every day, and over time he had to be more critical in various situations. I am very afraid that the people whom I advised.
. . God forbid, a person turned out to be dishonorable with someone or didn’t do something that depended on him, but as a result screwed the pooch.
. . For me, this is a responsibility.
At the end of 2021, Russia began to build up its military force on the borders with Ukraine under the guise of military exercises. US intelligence began to sound the alarm, predicting the imminent start of a full-scale war. Although back in December 2021, Russia convinced the whole world that it would not gather troops to the border with Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy tried to get specifics from Western partners regarding possible joining NATO and the European Union. At the Munich Security Conference on February 19, Zelenskyy delivered an emotional speech in which he once again called on the world community to remember the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, which implied Ukraine's renunciation of nuclear weapons. In return, the nuclear states must provide security guarantees to Ukraine.
His speech broke the applause, although, unfortunately, this performance didn’t lead to any expected results. On February 24, 2022 at 5 AM, Russia invaded the territory of Ukraine. At that time, TV channels in Moscow began broadcasting Putin's appeal: he announced the invasion of the Russian army into Ukraine, the start of a military conflict with the Ukrainian army, and "carrying out a special military operation" behind which a traditional war was hidden.
By the time our team started writing this material, as a result of the shelling of peaceful cities and ordinary citizens of the country by Russian troops, only 516 were officially killed, including 50 children. 908 were wounded. The real number is impossible to count.
. . Further events developed very rapidly.
Russia carried out strikes on all major cities of Ukraine. And despite the fact that Putin stated that only military infrastructure was being attacked, in reality, the missiles were targeted onto residential buildings, as a result of which the civilian population suffered. Dad will sell something, he will help our heroes, our troops…He will help our troops, maybe he will even fight.
According to CNN, Russia has fired 710 missiles against Ukraine since the outbreak of hostilities. According to The Times and reports by the Security Service of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been assassinated several times. The United States offered Zelenskyy to evacuate him, but he replied that "this is war, and he needs weapons, not transport.
" Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the presidential office, said the following about Zelenskyy in an interview: Quote: "Zelenskyy will definitely not leave Kyiv. He is an insane person, in a good sense of this word. He is not afraid.
He believes that he should be inside, in the heart of the country. " According to Podolyak, Volodymyr Putin doesn’t understand the internal situation in Ukraine at all and has false ideas about the President of Ukraine. I’m staying in the capital, staying with my people While Putin is hiding in a bunker, Zelenskyy remains at his workplace, supports the Ukrainian people and is ready for constructive negotiations.
Despite the difficult situation, Zelenskyy doesn’t lose his presence of mind and sense of humor. For example, a video recently appeared on Russian channels of a meeting between Putin and representatives of Russian airlines, which is most likely fake and filmed using computer graphics. The audience came to this idea when, at one point, Putin ran his hand through the microphone, as if it had just been drawn on the greenscreen.
Shortly thereafter, at the end of his next speech to the Ukrainian people, Volodymyr Zelenskyy took the microphone and turned it to the side, as if proving that this was not a montage, and he remains in the president's office. The phrase of Mykhailo Khodorkovskyy, a Russian politician and oppositionist, reflected the changes in the perception of the two antagonist leaders. And it became significant.
Quote: “Politicians turn into clowns, clowns become heroes” During the first week of the war, even those Ukrainians who were categorically against Zelenskyy and didn’t vote for him in the elections were pleasantly surprised by the statements and actions of the president, and began to respect him. According to opinion polls made in early March, 93% of Ukrainians support Zelenskyy. For comparison, as of mid-February, Zelenskyy was trusted by 41% of respondents, although this was the best result among Ukrainian politicians.
On March 7, Zelenskyy received the Ronald Reagan Freedom Medal. This high award recognizes the leadership of the Ukrainian Head of State and the indomitable spirit of millions of Ukrainians who stand up for their right to choose their own future and inspire the entire civilized world to fight for the values of freedom and democracy to which Ronald Reagan dedicated his life. The President of Ukraine is pursuing an active foreign policy, trying to awaken the whole world, draw its attention to the violation of all possible norms of ethics and morality by the Russian Federation and get the support of European countries in the fight against Russian aggression.
Zelenskyy is confident that only the cohesion of the international community will make it possible to repel any aggression and save humanity from new suffering. Every day, Volodymyr Zelenskyy does everything possible to get NATO to close the sky over Ukraine. He calls on the world community to act, as events in Ukraine will affect the whole world, and not just one particular country.
The President of Ukraine believes that all states of the world should say "No! " to totalitarian ideologies, xenophobia, aggression, repression, any manifestations of hatred and intolerance. And if the world stands aside, it will lose itself.
Forever. Because there are unconditional values that are the same for everyone. First of all, it is life, the right to life for everyone.
Dear friends! This video is quite special for the Biographer channel. Some members of our crew are from Ukraine.
Part of this video was made in bomb shelters, under fire. We always try to please you only with high-quality content and we hope to do this in future. If we survive.
In Ukraine, hundreds of peaceful, innocent people are now dying, as well as the military, who bravely defend their homeland from russian invaders. Therefore, we cannot be silent. We do not agitate or force anyone.
But in case you want to help the Ukrainian people in the struggle for their independence, we’ve left links to various charitable foundations that help both the Ukrainian army and the general population. You can find them in the description under this video. Every cent from this video will go to a good cause.
This was Biographer. We hope to meet you soon in a new video. Take care of yourself, bye!
