- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been praised for his resistance to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
- Zelenskyy was first an actor and starred in a show where his character was the president of Ukraine.
- Zelenskyy’s grandfather fought in World War II, and members of his family died during the Holocaust.
With all the fighting and fear his country is facing, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has become a symbol of hope for many Ukrainians as they defend their country from the Russian invasion.
As Russian forces began to close in on the Ukraine capital of Kyiv over the weekend, Zelenskyy refused to leave his country, declaring he would fight back despite being marked as "target No. 1."
"The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride," a senior American intelligence official recounted Zelenskyy telling U.S. officials on Saturday.
But the 44-year-old's rise to global attention is anything but ordinary. He isn't a career politician, and with talks of the Russian invasion potentially being the start of World War III, Zelenskyy's family has very deep connections with World War II.
Here is everything to know about the Ukrainian president.
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He was a comedian and actor, and his political career began from TV
After obtaining a law degree, Zelenskyy joined a comedy group in the late 1990s that became widely successful in Ukraine. The group's success launched his acting career, starring in various films, and even voicing the titular character in the Ukrainian dubbing of Paddington and Paddington 2.
But Zelenskyy really rose to fame for the show "Servant of the People" in 2015. In the show, Zelenskyy played a high school history teacher whose rant on political corruption in Ukraine goes viral and results in him becoming president.
Three years after the show's debut, the television production company behind it launched a political party named after the show with Zelenskyy declaring his interest in politics. He then ran for president in the 2019 election, unseating incumbent Petro Poroshenko by winning more than 73% of votes.
His family fought and died during WWII
Zelenskyy's grandfather, Semyon Ivanovich Zelenskyy, fought for the Soviet Union during World War II. And the president, who is Jewish, also had family members who were killed by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust.
Shortly before his inauguration in 2019, Zelenskyy visited the grave of his grandfather in his hometown of Kryvy Rih on May 9, in what he called his family's "Thanksgiving," also known as Victory Day; the anniversary of when Nazi Germany surrendered.
"Thanksgiving for the fact that the inhuman ideology of Nazism is a thing of the past, thanksgiving to those who fought against Nazism – and won, thanksgiving everyone for the opportunity to be born and live," he wrote in a Facebook post. "No one has the right to privatize this victory, to say that it could have happened without Ukrainians. We remember those who had lost their lives. And we honor those who are still alive, there are very few of them left."
He was previously tied to Donald Trump
The reason the House filed an impeachment inquiry against former President Donald Trump in 2019 was because of a conversation between Trump and Zelenskyy.
In August 2019, an unnamed official in the intelligence community filed a complaint, saying Trump had a phone call with Zelenskyy. During the calls, Trump urged the Ukrainian president to investigate Burisma Group, a Ukrainian energy company where President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, previously served on the board of directors, as his administration was holding up millions of dollars in military aid for Ukraine approved by Congress.
After Trump was acquitted, Zelenskyy pushed back on Trump's claims that Ukraine was a corrupt country.
Zelenskyy has received praise for his efforts during the Russian invasion
Zelenskyy's stance in fighting back against Russian forces rather than leaving the country has earned him praise across social media. He has received comparisons to George Washington and Winston Churchill.
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Follow Jordan Mendoza on Twitter: @jordan_mendoza5.
