Just a few years ago, Volodymyr Zelensky was a comedic actor and screenwriter.
In October 2015, he starred in the television show Servant of the People. One episode featuring a diatribe against corruption in the Ukrainian government by his character, Vasily Petrovych Holobordko, a high school history teacher (reminiscent of Peter Finch’s “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore” rant in the movie Network) went viral. And on December 31, 2018, Zelensky followed in the footsteps of his character and announced that he would run for president under the banner of the Servant of the People Party.
In a crowded field, Zelensky received over 30% of the vote in the first round of the election. On April 21, 2019, following an anti-political corruption runoff campaign that relied almost exclusively on digital and social media platforms, especially Instagram, he garnered 73% of votes and handily defeated the incumbent, Petro Poroshenko, to become the sixth president of Ukraine.
“All my life I tried to do all I could so that Ukrainians laughed. Now I will do all I can so that Ukrainians at least do not cry anymore.”
Volodymyr Zelensky
“All my life I tried to do all I could so that Ukrainians laughed,” Zelensky declared in his inaugural address. “Now I will do all I can so that Ukrainians at least do not cry anymore.”
From comedian to wartime hero: Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky
Thus far, as Vladimir Putin’s barbaric assault on civilians continues, that bar has been too high, even for Zelensky. Nonetheless, Ukraine’s president is now hailed as a courageous and inspirational wartime leader, often compared to Winston Churchill.
Edited by Lisa Rogak (whose many books include Barack Obama in His Own Words) and translated by Daisy Gibbons, Volodymyr Zelensky in His Own Words provides quotations about a wide range of personal and political subjects. Unfortunately, Rogak and Gibbons do not provide the full text of, or even extensive excerpts from, any of Zelensky’s public addresses. Virtually all of the entries in the book are one or two sentences long. The editors do not supply any context for them either, and only a few add to what most readers already know.
THAT SAID, in these pages Zelensky clearly demonstrates that he is adept at convincing readers of his candor and sincerity. “I am a living person,” he declares, “and I entered politics as a living person. I do not know much, I have no experience, it’s all true. But I am the same person as all citizens of Ukraine, and I want to stay that way.”
By contrast, he says when he encounters politicians who overact, “I see this in their facial expressions, their eyes, the way they squint.” People identify with him because he is open: “I get hurt, I get angry, I get upset. If I don’t know something, I admit it.” And most of all, people identify with him because he is determined to use the chance God has given him to win the war against Russia.
In his description of the war, Zelensky displays his anger and indignation. Ukraine and Europe want peace, he declares, and “Russia says it doesn’t want to attack. Someone is lying.” The Russians do not even mourn their own casualties. Even when they lose 15,000 soldiers a month! “Putin is throwing Russian soldiers like logs into a train’s furnace.” Zelensky encourages Russian mothers to look at pictures of the carnage. “Look at the bastards you’ve brought up. Murderers, looters, butchers.”
By contrast, Zelensky’s comments about his Jewish heritage and Israel seem a bit disingenuous. “I have Jewish blood. And I’m president,” he maintains. “Nobody cares. Nobody asks me about it…. The fact that I’m a Jew is about the 20th question among my characteristics.” The Ukrainian and Jewish communities “have always been, and I am sure, will always be very intertwined, very close,” he told The Times of Israel in March 2022. “They will always live side by side. And they will always feel joy and pain together.”
There can be no doubt about Volodymyr Zelensky’s charisma, courage, and patriotism. Ukraine, he emphasizes, “is a young country with a thousand-year history.” Its land is “unique, lovely, unbreakable, incredible, amazing, fabulous, wonderful, beautiful.” Ukraine “broke the enemy’s plans in a week – plans that had been built for years, treacherously, deliberately, with hatred for our country and our people, and any people who have hearts and freedom.”
Nobody “is going to break us,” he predicts. “We are strong.” And when the war ends, every square, in every city in Ukraine, no matter what it is now called, “is going to be called Freedom Square.”
The outcome of the war, of course, is by no means certain. Nevertheless, and despite the unspeakable atrocities visited on soldiers and civilians, an overwhelmingly high percentage of Ukrainians approve of the job Zelensky is doing.
History, it is said, is written by the victors. Perhaps. But one can’t help wondering as well whether, if Ukraine prevails, Zelensky will suffer the fate of prime minister Winston Churchill, who was sent packing by British voters when World War II ended.
The writer is the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies at Cornell University.
Volodymyr Zelensky in His Own Words Edited & translated by Lisa Rogak and Daisy Gibbons Pegasus Books 191 pages; $28