Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy is a Ukrainian politician and former comedian and actor who has served as the sixth and current president of Ukraine since 2019.
83 Facts About Volodymyr Zelenskyy
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy 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 a fictional Ukrainian president.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced his candidacy in the 2019 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.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy has positioned himself as an anti-establishment and anti-corruption figure.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy's party won a landslide victory in the snap legislative election held shortly after his inauguration as president.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy's administration faced an escalation of tensions with Russia in 2021, culminating in the launch of an ongoing full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy initially distanced himself from warnings of an imminent war, while calling for security guarantees and military support from NATO to "withstand" the threat.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy was named the Time Person of the Year for 2022, and opinion polls in Ukraine have ranked him as Ukraine's greatest president.
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Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy was born to Jewish parents on 25 January 1978 in Kryvyi Rih, then in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy's father, Oleksandr Zelenskyy, is a professor and computer scientist and the head of the Department of Cybernetics and Computing Hardware at the Kryvyi Rih State University of Economics and Technology; his mother, Rymma Zelenska, used to work as an engineer.
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In March 2022, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that his great-grandparents had been killed after German troops burned their home to the ground during a massacre.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy later earned a law degree from the Kryvyi Rih Institute of Economics, then a department of Kyiv National Economic University and now part of Kryvyi Rih National University, but never worked in the legal field.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy was invited to join the united Ukrainian team "Zaporizhia-Kryvyi Rih-Transit", which performed in the KVN's Major League, and eventually won in 1997.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy continued his movie career with the film Office Romance.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy played the leading role in the 2012 film 8 First Dates and in sequels which were produced in 2015 and 2016.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy recorded the voice of Paddington Bear in the Ukrainian dubbing of Paddington and Paddington 2.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy was a member of the board and the general producer of the TV channel Inter from 2010 to 2012.
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In 2018, the romantic comedy Love in the Big City 2 starring Volodymyr Zelenskyy was banned in Ukraine.
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Once again, Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke out against the intention of the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture to ban Russian artists from Ukraine.
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In 2015, Volodymyr Zelenskyy became the star of the television series Servant of the People, where he played the role of the president of Ukraine.
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The comedy series Svaty, in which Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared, was banned in Ukraine in 2017, but unbanned in March 2019.
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Around the time of his 2019 election, Volodymyr Zelenskyy handed his shares in a key offshore company over to Sergei Shefir, but the two men appear to have made an arrangement for Volodymyr Zelenskyy's family to continue receiving the money from these companies.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy's announcement up-staged the New Year's Eve address of incumbent president Petro Poroshenko on the same channel, which Zelenskyy said was unintentional and attributed to a technical glitch.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not release a detailed policy platform and his engagement with mainstream media was minimal; he instead reached out to the electorate via social media channels and YouTube clips.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy styled himself as an anti-establishment, anti-corruption figure, although he was not generally described as a populist.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he wished to restore trust in politicians, "to bring professional, decent people to power" and to "change the mood and timbre of the political establishment".
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On 16 April 2019, a few days before the election, 20 Ukrainian news outlets called on Volodymyr Zelenskyy to "stop avoiding journalists".
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that he was not hiding from journalists but that he did not want to go to talk shows where "people of the old power" were "just doing PR" and that he did not have time to satisfy all interview requests.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that as president he would develop the economy and attract investment to Ukraine through "a restart of the judicial system" and restoring confidence in the state.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed a tax amnesty and a 5 per cent flat tax for big business which could be increased "in dialogue with them and if everyone agrees".
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy clearly won the first round of elections on 31 March 2019.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed to spend the money that would have been used to finance the parade on veterans.
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In 2020, Volodymyr Zelenskyy's party proposed reforms to Ukraine's media laws with the intent to increase competition and loosen the dominance of Ukrainian oligarchs on television and radio broadcasters.
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In January 2020, Volodymyr Zelenskyy took a trip to Oman that was not published on his official schedule, appearing to combine a personal holiday with government business.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office said Zelenskyy paid for the entire trip himself.
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In June 2021, Volodymyr Zelenskyy submitted to the Verkhovna Rada a bill creating a public registry of Ukraine's oligarchs, banning them from participating in privatizations of state-owned companies, and forbidding them from contributing financially to politicians.
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Critics of Volodymyr Zelenskyy's administration have claimed that, in taking power away from the Ukrainian oligarchs, he has sought to centralize authority and strengthen his personal position.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed Andriy Bohdan as head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed and replaced 20 of the governors of Ukraine's 24 oblasts.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Bohdan as head of his presidential administration on 11 February 2020 and appointed Andriy Yermak as his successor the same day.
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On 11 July 2019, Volodymyr Zelenskyy held his first telephone conversation with Russian president Vladimir Putin, during which he urged Putin to enter into talks mediated by European countries.
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In October 2019, Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced a preliminary deal struck with the separatists, under which the Ukrainian government would respect elections held in the region in exchange for Russia withdrawing its unmarked troops.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy defended his negotiations, saying the elections would not be held before a Russian withdrawal.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy met personally with some of these groups and tried to convince them to surrender their unregistered weapons and accept the peace accord.
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Andriy Biletsky, the leader of the far-right National Corps and first commander of Azov, accused Volodymyr Zelenskyy of being disrespectful to army veterans and of acting on behalf of the Kremlin by leaving Ukrainians vulnerable to Russian aggression.
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On 8 January 2020, the Presidential Office announced that Volodymyr Zelenskyy was cutting short his trip to Oman owing to the Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 plane crash in nearby Iran the same day.
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On 26 November 2021, Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia and Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov of backing a plan to overthrow his government.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that "we do not see a bigger escalation" than in early 2021 when Russia's military build-up started.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy disputed claims of the Russian government about the presence of neo-Nazis in the Ukrainian government and stated that he had no intention of attacking the Donbas region, while highlighting his personal connections to the area.
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Russian missiles struck a number of military targets in Ukraine, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared martial law.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that diplomatic relations with Russia were being severed, effective immediately.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy turned down both offers and opted to remain in Kyiv with its defense forces, saying that "the fight is here [in Kyiv]; I need ammunition, not a ride".
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy has gained worldwide recognition as the wartime leader of Ukraine during the Russian invasion; historian Andrew Roberts compared him to Winston Churchill.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he is ready for dialogue, but "not for capitulation".
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed a new collective security agreement for Ukraine with the United States, Turkey, France, Germany as an alternative to the country joining NATO.
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However, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine was considering giving the Russian language protected minority status.
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On 16 March 2022, a deepfake appeared online of Volodymyr Zelenskyy calling on Ukrainian citizens to surrender to Russia.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made an effort to rally the governments of Western nations in an effort to isolate Russia.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made numerous addresses to the legislatures of the EU, UK, Poland, Australia, Canada, US, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Romania, and the Nordic countries.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy has supported consolidating all TV news stations into a single 24-hour news broadcast run by the state of Ukraine.
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In May 2022, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian men of conscription age had a duty to remain in Ukraine and that up to 100 Ukrainian soldiers were killed every day in the fighting in eastern Ukraine.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy made the comment after he was asked about an online petition calling to lift a prohibition on Ukrainian men leaving Ukraine.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced suggestions by former US diplomat Henry Kissinger that Ukraine should cede control of Crimea and Donbas to Russia in exchange for peace.
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On 3 May 2022, Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Turkey of having "double standards" by welcoming Russian tourists while attempting to act as an intermediary between Russia and Ukraine in order to end the war.
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On 25 May 2022, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he was satisfied with China's policy of staying away from the conflict.
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On 20 June 2022, Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed African Union representatives via videoconference.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy invited African leaders for virtual meeting but only four of them attended.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Putin is aware that the "world will never forgive" a Russian nuclear strike.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with President Joe Biden and addressed Congress delivering his full speech in English.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy's electoral programme claimed that Ukrainian NATO membership is "the choice of the Maidan and the course that is enshrined in the Constitution, in addition, it is an instrument for strengthening our defense capability".
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The programme states that Volodymyr Zelenskyy "will do everything to ensure" that Ukraine can apply for European Union membership in 2024.
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Two days before the second round, Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that he wanted to build "a strong, powerful, free Ukraine, which is not the younger sister of Russia, which is not a corrupt partner of Europe, but our independent Ukraine".
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy has tried to position Ukraine as a neutral party in the political and trade tensions between the United States and China.
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In January 2021, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview with Axios that he does not perceive China as a geopolitical threat and that he does not agree with the United States assertions that it represents one.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy supported the late 2013 and early 2014 Euromaidan movement.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not rule out holding a referendum on the issue.
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On 2 May 2019, Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Facebook that "the border is the only thing Russia and Ukraine have in common".
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised to bring the salary for military personnel "to the level of NATO standards".
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy opposed targeting the Russian language in Ukraine and banning artists for their political opinions.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russian artists "who have turned into politicians" should remain banned from entering Ukraine.
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Civil rights organizations praised the statement, though criticizing its vagueness, as Volodymyr Zelenskyy had avoided giving any details about legal proposals for civil partnerships.
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On 2 December 2022, Volodymyr Zelenskyy entered a bill to the Verkhovna Rada that would officially ban all activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church UOC in Ukraine.
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In September 2003, Volodymyr Zelenskyy married Olena Kiyashko, with whom he had attended school and university.