Volodymyr Zelenskyy: President of Ukraine since 2019

He is the President of Ukraine since 2019.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Володимир Зеленський
Zelenskyy in 2022
6th President of Ukraine
Incumbent
Assumed office 20 May 2019
Prime Minister	Volodymyr Groysman Oleksiy Honcharuk Denys Shmyhal
Preceded by	Petro Poroshenko
Personal details
Born	Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy (1978-01-25) 25 January 1978 (age 46) Kryvyi Rih, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine)
Political party	Independent
Other political affiliations	Servant of the People (2018–present)
Spouse(s)	Olena Kiyashko (m. 2003)
Children	2
Education	Kyiv National Economic University
Occupation	Politician actor comedian
Signature

Zelenskyy played the role of President of Ukraine in the hugely popular 2015 television series Servant of the People. The political party Servant of the People was created in March 2018 by people from the TV production company Kvartal 95 who also created the TV series of the same name.

Zelenskyy ran for president as a populist and anti-corruption candidate in the 2019 election. He defeated incumbent President Petro Poroshenko in a landslide victory, winning 73.2% of the vote.

Zelenskyy was born 25 January 1978 in Kryvyi Rih, Ukrainian SSR in a secular Ukrainian Jewish family. His father, Oleksandr Zelenskyy, is a professor at the Kryvyi Rih Institute of Economics. His mother, Rymma Zelenska, worked as an engineer. Before going to school Volodymyr lived for four years in Mongolia where his father worked at that time.

Zelenskyy earned a law degree from the Kryvyi Rih Institute of Economics. He fluently speaks Ukrainian and Russian.

In 2008, he starred in the feature film Love in the Big City, and its sequel, Love in the Big City 2. Zelenskyy also played the main role in the movie Office Romance, Our Time, Rzhevsky Versus Napoleon, Love in the Big City 3, 8 First Dates, etc.

In 2015, Zelenskyy became the main actor of the popular Ukrainian television series Servant of the People, where he played the role of the President of Ukraine.

Zelenskyy also voice dubbed Paddington Bear in the Ukrainian language settings of Paddington and Paddington 2.

Zelenskyy was the front-runner in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election. Six months before he announced his candidacy on 31 December 2018, he was already one of the frontrunners in opinion polls for the election.

In September 2019 it was reported that U.S. President Donald Trump had pressured Zelenskyy during a July phone call between the two Presidents to investigate alleged wrongdoing by Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. This led to the Trump–Ukraine scandal and the impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump which would result in Trump's impeachment.

During 2021–2022, Zelenskyy's administration faced intense tensions with Russia and President Vladimir Putin. This led to the launch of an ongoing full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022. Zelenskyy's strategy during the Russian military buildup was to calm the Ukrainian population and work with the international community that Ukraine was not going to fight back. At first, he distanced himself from warnings of a future war, while also wanting security guarantees and military support from NATO. After the start of the invasion, Zelenskyy declared martial law across Ukraine.

Zelenskyy became well known around the world during the invasion as the wartime leader of Ukraine. He has been compared to Winston Churchill. He is seen as a national hero or a "global hero" by many political commentators and newspapers.

In December 2022, Zelenskyy along with the Spirit of Ukraine were named Time Person of the Year.

In September 2003, Zelenskyy married Olena Kiyashko. They have one daughter and one son. Zelenskyy's first language is Russian, and he is also fluent in Ukrainian and English. His net worth is about 37 million hryvnias (about US$1.5 million) in 2018.