It is an honor that few personalities who have been able to taste: to make the front page of the magazine Time in December, with the title “person of the year”. Unsurprisingly, it was the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, who embodied his country’s resistance to the invasion of Russia, who was designated this year by the American title which also paid tribute to the ‘Spirit of Ukraine’.
“Whether the battle for Ukraine inspires hope or fear, Volodymyr Zelensky has galvanized the world in a way we haven’t seen in decades,” wrote the editor-in-chief of the Time Edward Felsenthal, for whom the choice had “never been so clear” as this year. “For proving that courage can be as contagious as fear, for inspiring people and nations to unite in defense of freedom, for reminding the world of the fragility of democracy – and peace – Volodymyr Zelensky and the spirit of Ukraine are the personality of the year 2022 of the Time “, adds the magazine based in New York.
“In the weeks following the start of the Russian bombardment on February 24, his decision not to flee kyiv but to stay and rally support was crucial. From his first 40-second Instagram post on Feb. 25 — showing that his cabinet and civil society were intact and in place — to daily speeches delivered remotely to institutions like parliaments, the World Bank and the Grammy Awards, the president of Ukraine was everywhere”, developed the editor-in-chief of the Time.
“The Russians will not have forgiveness”
On the cover of the magazine, the face of the former comedian who became president of Ukraine, 44, with a beard of several days and a khaki sweater which now symbolizes him in the world, appears surrounded by figures from civil society, and overcoming a crowd. of demonstrators carrying country flags, blue and yellow. Among them, the doctor Iryna Kondratova, “who helped mothers give birth in a hospital basement during the bombings”, the engineer Oleg Kutkov who allowed the country to maintain its Internet connection network, the editor in chief of the Kyiv Independent, Olga Rudenko, the chef Ievgen Klopotenko, “who has transformed his restaurant into an emergency canteen” or even the war surgeon Dr David Nott.
The cover of Time is accompanied by a long report by one of its journalists, Simon Shuster, who interviewed the Ukrainian president. “The Russians must understand… They will not have forgiveness. They will not be accepted in the world, ”says Volodymyr Zelensky in particular.