Zelenskiy, Volodymyr
Oleksandrovych,
1978–, Ukrainian political leader and entertainer, president of
Ukraine (2019–). He earned a law degree from Kyiv National Economic
Univ. but pursued a career in entertainment, performing in cabaret and, in
1997, creating Kvartal 95, a comedy team that later (2003) formed a
television production company. He also acted in several feature films, and
created, produced, and starred in the satirical television series
Servant of the People (2015–19), in which a
history teacher who rants about corruption becomes Ukraine's president. In
2018 Zelenskiy formed a political party, Servant of the People, and after
running an anticorruption campaign largely on social media, in 2019 won the
presidency after a runoff, defeating President Poroshenko by a landslide. His party
subsequently also won a parliamentary majority. Zelenskiy was thrust into
the position of a wartime leader of Ukraine following the invasion of
Russian troop into E Ukraine in Feb., 2022.
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