During his prime on TV, Volodymyr Zelenskyy stood in front of the camera and made jokes about Vladimir Putin and his alleged lover, figure skater Alina Kabaeva. At the time, Russia had just snatched Crimea from Ukraine, but the great invasion was still a long way off. Now, nine years later, the former entertainer only occasionally jokes around. A few months ago, as a guest of US TV icon David Letterman: “What’s new?” “Russia is fighting NATO.” “And what’s the status?” “The Russians have lost tens of thousands of soldiers, much of the equipment is damaged.” “And what about NATO?” “It’s not here yet.”
Swap beard for rogue
On the outside, there is a pre-war Volodymyr Zelensky and the war president Volodymyr Zelensky: The first hung around on stages in well-tailored suits, with an expression that only seemed to know the rascal. The second sits in poorly lit rooms and wears olive green T-shirts. His face is framed by a beard, which he swapped for the rascal.
Rarely has a public figure slipped into a new role more appropriately and conspicuously than Volodymyr Zelenskyy after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In the case of Barack Obama, it was only shortly before the end of his term that he noticed how gray the US President suddenly was. The war has also left its mark on Vladimir Putin’s face, but the stress isn’t killing him, it’s making him fuller, to put it kindly.
Zelenskyj never hid
Possibly Zelenskyj’s greatest feat was that he never went into hiding. The professional in matters of external representation recorded videos in the late evening immediately after the beginning of the war, the bombs fell on the capital, not only to ask the West for support and weapons, but above all to show himself to his compatriots and give them courage. The whole world could watch him being thrown into the coldest of all waters overnight – and not only not sinking, but growing in responsibility day by day.