UKRAINIAN president Volodymyr Zelensky was, until relatively recently, one of his country’s most popular comedians, starring in a TV satire as…the Ukrainian president.
He played schoolteacher Vasily Goloborodko, who wakes up to find he has been elected head of state after a video of him ranting against corruption goes viral when it is shared online by one of his pupils.
Servant of the People ran for four years, from 2015 to 2019, mocked corruption, and showed how the country could look with an ‘ordinary guy’ in charge.
As Russian troops roll into Kyiv, events that could have been dreamed by one of his scriptwriters, Zelensky has vowed to remain in the capital, despite the increasing risk he could be assassinated.
The grave situation he finds himself in now is a far cry from the romantic comedy acting roles he once enjoyed, or comedy troupe performances which include him playing a piano with his penis for five minutes.
In a short but chilling video address released last night, Zelensky said the Russians “want to destroy Ukraine politically by taking down the head of state.”
He said: “I am staying in the government quarters together with others.
“The enemy has designated me as target number one, and my family as target number two.”
Zelensky has become more recognisable outside Ukraine in the build up to the invasion on Thursday with his passionate televised speeches and social media messaging aimed at both Russians and Ukrainians.
Zelensky, 44, is married to Olena Zelenska, his wife of almost 20 years and has a son, Kiril, and a daughter, Aleksandra.
Born in the central city of Kryvyi Rih to Jewish parents, he graduated from Kyiv National Economic University with a law degree.
In 2003, he co-founded Kvartal 95, a television production company named after his comedy team.
The company produced shows for the 1+1 network, which is owned by the billionaire oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, who allegedly bankrolled Zelensky’s real life landslide presidential campaign in 2019.
Zelensky had been closely associated with his reported benefactor, who also co-founded PrivatBank, the largest commercial bank in Ukraine before it was nationalized in 2016.
Kolomoisky reportedly has used private own paramilitary units to defeat Russian separatist groups, allegedly called President Putin, who is 5ft 7ins a “schizophrenic dwarf,” and is said to feed a live shark kept in an aquarium in his office to intimidate guests.
Despite Zelensky’s ties to Kolomoisky, he has not lived up to the expectation he would be a joke president or a frontman for Ukrainian billionaires, and has instead become a crusader against corruption.
It was Zelensky former US president Donald Trump called in July 2019 to ask for ‘a favour’ in return for a trip to Washington and military aid.
The ‘favour’ was an investigation into allegations of corruption about Joe Biden and his family ahead of the election in the United States Mr Trump would go on to lose.
It is thought moves by Zelensky to seek membership of the European Union and Nato have angered Moscow, but despite warnings of the threat of a Russian invasion, he remained calm.
Read more: Man's fear as wife remains in Ukraine despite Russia invasion
Despite the build-up of over 100,000 troops on his border, he said Russian aggression in the east of Ukraine was ‘not new’ and something people had got used over the last eight years.
In 2014, the year before Servant of the People was released, Ukraine's pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych was removed from office during a revolution following months of protests.
Russia subsequently seized Crimea and supported separatists in the east in the conflict that has been rumbling on ever since, killing more than 14,000 people.
Zelensky has tried to compromise with Russia, and moves towards implementing a peace process, the Minsk agreements, were made but nothing came of them.
It is thought Zelensky, who grew up in the Russian-speaking southeast Ukraine, has developed into more of a Ukrainian nationalist as president.
Just before Vladimir Putin’s forces crossed the border Zelensky issued a powerful plea to Russians urging them to question what their country was doing.
Early on Thursday, he tweeted: “We have severed diplomatic relations with Russia.
“For all those who have not yet lost their conscience in Russia, it is time to go out and protest against the war with Ukraine.”
Read more: County Durham woman flees Ukraine just before Russian invasion
Zelensky has declared a state of martial law in Ukraine, but remained defiant Russian forces hit the country with force not seen in Europe since the Second World War.
Zelensky tweeted: “Russia treacherously attacked our state in the morning, as Nazi Germany did.”
“As of today, our countries are on different sides of world history.”
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