Zelensky: Ukraine's President and His Country

Incisive biography of Ukraine's inspiring leader

Moscow may have believed that Zelensky would flee from the mighty Russian army, but he stayed put. In the weeks that followed, he led the war and became the face of Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion, and an international icon. Though the deadline had already passed, European politicians nominated the Ukrainian president and his people for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The life story of Volodymyr Zelensky (born 1978) is full of surprising twists. At the age of 20, the Jewish boy from the provincial town of Kryvyi Rih was a star of the stage. At 30, the comedian and actor headed a multimillion-dollar company. At 40, in the hit series Servant of the People, Zelensky played the Ukrainian president he aspired to be: an outsider who takes on his country's corrupt political and business elite. 'If I am elected, they will first sling mud at me,' said Zelensky in 2018, six days before he announced his candidacy, 'then they will learn to respect me, and finally cry when I leave.'

In Zelensky, Steven Derix describes the impressive life story of an actor who played a president on TV before being thrust into the role of real-life wartime leader.