For a long time, Volodymyr Zelensky was seen as a comic actor who stumbled into the presidency. During the confrontation with Russia, however, the 44-year-old man matured into a respected statesman. An actor, a political satirist, underestimated even by his supporters, decides to change careers and run for the highest public office in the country. It’s almost inconceivable. And yet this man has something that many politicians lack – something that allows him to shine, especially in times of crisis: he is an excellent communicator. Many of the phrases of Volodymyr Zelensky, the current president of Ukraine, will be remembered for many years and will end up in the history books.
On June 12, 1987, at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, former Hollywood actor Ronald Reagan, then President of the United States, declaimed the words that, to this day, are quoted whenever someone refers to the period that ended the Cold War: “Mister Gorbachev, open this gate, tear down this wall.”
Nearly 45 years later, a man with similar entertainment experience speaks to his countrymen in video messages as the national leader, addressing them as “Free people! Free country!”.
Zelensky says things like: “We Ukrainians are a peaceful nation. But if we keep silent today, we will leave tomorrow!” He fiercely criticizes the lack of support from abroad: “We need an anti-war coalition. We are defending our country alone. The most powerful forces across the world are just watching.”
From “Servant of the People” to President of Ukraine
Ronald Reagan died 18 years ago, but many in the US still revere him: to them, he is practically a saint. Zelensky appears to be building a similar status in Ukraine. However, it’s not entirely clear what will happen to him in the coming days and weeks. Reports are circulating that Russia intends to kill him. Zelensky himself has speculated that one of the goals of the Russian attack is to take him down, and said the enemy has declared him their number one target.
Just a few years ago, Zelensky was an actor and artist, who satirized corruption and mismanagement in Ukraine by playing the Ukrainian president in the popular Ukrainian television series The Servant of the People. Elected in 2019 as president, he has quickly become a serious statesman who seems able to effortlessly set the tone for his speeches, even in moments of crisis. Perhaps it is precisely because, before becoming president, he was a comic actor, presenter and an artist with remarkable rhetorical talent, which allows him to use words to the greatest possible impact.
Zelensky as an excellent communicator
With the Russian invasion, the situation in Ukraine looks increasingly dangerous. And each of Zelensky’s pleas has been more urgent and passionate than the last. Observers consider his speech shortly after the start of the Russian invasion to be the best of his life. Emotional, fearless and resolute, he told Russian troops: “If you attack, you will see our faces, not our backs!”
The Ukrainian president also perfectly mastered the art of communicating via Twitter. Every few hours, he writes concise statements to the world. At noon on Friday, for example, he thanked Sweden in Ukrainian and English for their military, technical and humanitarian assistance, concluding that they were “building an anti-Putin coalition together”.
Media Duel with Vladimir Putin
It is part of the paradoxical history of this war that, while in military terms Ukraine is hopelessly behind the Russians, when it comes to rhetoric, Zelensky defeats Putin. After the Russian president’s confused hour-long speech in which he recognized the breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine as “independent”, Ukrainian Zelensky assured his countrymen: “Don’t panic! We are strong and ready for anything. We will defeat them all, because we are Ukraine!” and in so doing he avoided mass panic.
When the Russian president speaks of baseless allegations of “genocide” in eastern Ukraine and “denazification” as a pretext for war, it sounds like pure mockery, especially for Zelensky. The Ukrainian head of state – who grew up in a Russian-speaking family – is Jewish. His grandfather, who was in the Red Army, lost three brothers in the Holocaust.
In the past, approval at rock bottom
Zelensky has probably never been more popular in Ukraine than he is now. However, before the war with Russia, many of his countrymen were anything but satisfied with their head of state. He was unable to deliver on the ambitious pledge he made three years ago to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
The progress envisaged in the Minsk Accords did not materialize – instead, the Accords gradually disintegrated completely.
Furthermore, the scandal surrounding the Pandora Papers, in which Zelensky and those close to him were allegedly involved, did not go unnoticed. An investigation by an international network of journalists revealed that Zelensky owns offshore companies that were indirectly paid for by an oligarch.
Cold War approaches again
In the late 1970s, Ronald Reagan was seen as an outdated man. He had twice failed to be the Republican presidential candidate, losing the primaries to Richard Nixon in 1968 and Gerald Ford in 1976. But then, in 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, the Cold War broke out again, and, a year later, later, Reagan won the US election against then-Democrat President Jimmy Carter.
More than four decades later, after Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the world faces a new version of the Cold War. And the role of Volodymyr Zelensky has not yet been determined.
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