Kyiv
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As Russian tanks rolled over the border in February 2022, rumors that Volodymyr Zelensky had fled Ukraine have been rife. With Kyiv beneath heavy bombardment and Russia closing in, European leaders feared the worst. Then the Ukrainian leader posted a grainy video of himself standing in the darkish in entrance of the presidency constructing, flanked by his high advisors, and introduced merely: “We are here.”
Zelensky’s elimination was a key a part of Russia’s plan to take over Ukraine – a challenge Moscow anticipated to finish in days. He was to be taken or killed, until he ran away first. A supply near the president advised NCS that Russian brokers had rented residences in the quick neighborhood of the presidential workplace, with an order to eradicate him.
At one level early in the war, a joke went round that Zelensky grew to become a comic – the profession he pursued earlier than getting into politics – as a result of he was not afraid of bombing. In these early days, Zelensky’s uncanny capability for survival and humor encapsulated the defiant temper of the nation. The story as advised by the Ukrainians, is that when the US provided to evacuate him, Zelensky shot back: “I need ammunition, not a ride.”
As Ukraine prepares to mark the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion on Tuesday, and with no finish to the war in sight, Zelensky’s message hasn’t modified. He’s still there, having survived not solely round a dozen Russian assassination makes an attempt but additionally a corruption scandal that final 12 months brought down his closest adviser, who stood beside him in that now-famous video, and two of his high authorities ministers.
For this evaluation of Zelensky’s place, NCS spoke to a few of these closest to the president – together with his spouse and his speechwriter – in addition to diplomats and politicians from Europe and the US who’ve labored intently with him and his administration.
Many attribute his sticking energy to his abilities as a political operator, which, alongside his inspirational speeches, have earned him comparisons with Winston Churchill.
But like the British wartime leader who additionally led his nation’s combat towards an even bigger, extra highly effective enemy, Zelensky has made missteps alongside the approach and his future appears to be like more and more unsure as the war grinds on. Even amongst the 60% of Ukrainians who say they belief Zelensky, solely about half consider he ought to run for a second time period.
Last July, Ukrainians took to the streets in uncommon wartime protests to push again towards the authorities’s plans to weaken the independence of the nation’s anti-corruption watchdogs. Zelensky was compelled to make a U-turn and acknowledge public anger.
He repeatedly clashed along with his former army chief, the massively common General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, lastly sacking him in 2024 in what some noticed as an try to neutralize his important political rival. More not too long ago, he’s needed to navigate a rocky relationship with a US president who has berated and humiliated him in entrance of the world.
Throughout, Zelensky has proven a feistiness that Bartosz Cichocki, Poland’s ambassador to Kyiv throughout the Russian invasion, believes seemingly comes from his childhood in certainly one of the poorest elements of what was then the Soviet Union.
“During his childhood, in Soviet Ukraine, you had to prove your strength, particularly if you were little Jewish boy trying to prove to everyone around that you deserve respect, it explains a lot,” Cichocki mentioned.
“He does not respect weakness, he can confront superior power, you need that when you have to confront bastards like (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and (his aide Nikolai) Patrushev and all that gang.”
But with the war displaying no signal of ending, how lengthy these qualities can hold him in energy is an open query.
At 48, and nearly seven years into his tenure, Zelensky is the youngest particular person to have led an unbiased Ukraine. He can be the nation’s very unlikely leader. A lawyer by coaching, he had no political expertise earlier than working for president, having spent the first half of his skilled profession in showbusiness. He made his identify in the hit TV present “Servant of the People” wherein he starred as an impoverished schoolteacher who unexpectedly turns into president.
When he first introduced his candidacy, many thought it was a joke. But they stopped laughing when Zelensky defeated incumbent Petro Poroshenko, profitable greater than 73% of the vote.
Before getting into politics, he had constructed a enterprise empire with revenues in the tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars}, one thing Henry Hale, professor of political science and worldwide affairs at George Washington University and the co-author of “The Zelensky Effect”, says was good preparation for the high job.
“I don’t think he came into the job naïve. He understood that if you want to make it in showbusiness in Ukraine, if you want to be on TV, you have no choice but to work with oligarchs, because they control all the TV channels,” Hale advised NCS.
He’s additionally a pure in entrance of the digicam. While he does sit down for interviews and maintain information conferences, his most popular approach of chatting with folks is thru direct video messages, an concept he got here up with himself, based on his speech author and communication adviser, Dmytro Lytvyn.
“He decided on the first day that he must explain to people what’s going on,” he mentioned. “We do fewer of them now, but the president thinks it’s important, as the war is moving on, just to explain what is happening, to show people that he is here and doing something,” Lytvyn advised NCS in Kyiv.
The movies are extremely casual, typically recorded on his telephone, selfie-style. But they resonate. Soldiers on the frontlines have advised NCS of their pleasure when their unit will get talked about. He speaks in Ukrainian – one thing that didn’t come to him naturally. Like many from japanese elements of the nation, Zelensky grew up talking Russian. He solely perfected his command of the Ukrainian language as an grownup, after hiring a tutor.
Zelensky’s best hours as a leader got here when his nation was going by means of a few of its darkest moments. When he determined to remain in Kyiv as the Russians have been closing in, it was an indication for a lot of that he was a leader they may belief.
Andrii Sybiha, who served as Zelensky’s deputy chief of workers throughout the invasion and is now Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, was in the room when Zelensky made that choice.
“He had a choice. His life and the life of his family, or accepting an ultimatum, this so-called capitulation agreement. He refused and his family stayed Ukraine. I really appreciate his strength and spirit,” Sybiha advised NCS.
The reality that Zelensky’s wife Olena, together with their kids Oleksandra and Kyrylo, additionally keep put, solely underscored that feeling.
Olena Zelenska advised NCS she felt “acute fear” throughout these first days. Later, this modified to fixed concern which she tries to push away. “Because otherwise it prevents you from living normally. This fear sometimes tries to surface … but I don’t allow myself to dwell on it for long.”
Almost in a single day, Zelensky’s approval rankings shot up from 37% to 90%, based on knowledge the KIIS knowledge.
This was a second when Zelensky’s knack for communication paid off. He could not have recognized learn how to be a wartime leader, but he knew learn how to talk like one.
Against the odds, Ukraine managed to repel the preliminary Russian assault on Kyiv and, inside a number of months, took again massive swaths of land initially seized by Moscow.
But Ukraine’s successes got here to a halt after the liberation of Kherson in November 2022. After a extensively anticipated counter-offensive in the summer time of 2023 did not materialize, Zelensky started clashing extra overtly with Zaluzhnyi, whom he faraway from the put up in early 2024.
More frontline stalemate adopted – till Kyiv, beneath the new management of General Oleksandr Syrskyi, launched a shock incursion into Russia’s Kursk area in August 2024. The transfer delivered a serious enhance to Ukraine’s morale and slowed down Russian advances alongside the japanese entrance.
But that enhance additionally didn’t final lengthy – 2025 was marked largely by Russia’s gradual, grinding offensive alongside the 1,200-kilometer-long frontline. The stalemate continues and, as the war enters its fourth 12 months, Ukraine continues to wrestle alongside the frontlines. Peace negotiations seem caught, with Russia sticking to maximalist calls for on which Zelensky just isn’t keen to compromise.
Zelensky knew from the starting that Ukraine wouldn’t be capable of maintain the combat with out vital assist from its allies, most significantly the United States. His willpower to safe the help he believes Ukraine deserves has, at occasions, come throughout as very forceful.
But it typically labored. Germany, which was initially very reluctant to become involved in the battle, refusing to supply Kyiv with weapons, ultimately did so and is now certainly one of the nation’s greatest backers.
Lytvyn, the communications advisor, advised NCS that Zelensky determined early on to make appeals for assist on to different nations, relatively than simply their leaders.
“He began to talk directly to the public. So many leaders started to help, not because he asked them, but because he asked their people, and the people then asked them,” he mentioned.
Public strain grew to become even stronger after the preliminary wave of Ukrainian liberations of cities round Kyiv revealed Russian atrocities – together with mass killings of civilians.
But the authenticity and robust messaging that labored so nicely in Ukraine and throughout Europe didn’t work with US President Donald Trump.
Ukraine, and Zelensky personally, have been a poisonous matter for Trump. It was the allegation that Trump pressured the Ukrainian president to analyze his political rival Joe Biden in 2019 that led to Trump’s first impeachment.
After returning to the White House, Trump has adopted a much more hostile place towards Ukraine than his predecessor. He has accused Zelensky of being a dictator and repeatedly recommended Ukraine, not Russia, began the war.
Against this background, European diplomats, in addition to some US lawmakers, warned Zelensky that a visit to Washington was unwise. But Zelensky didn’t hear. “He went to the White House with the idea that (the Ukrainians) are in the right and that they are the victim here and that they will show (Trump) this. He did not gauge the situation well, and it ended up costing him,” one European diplomat advised NCS.
“He is stubborn and convinced he knows the best. Of course, without that, he would not be where he is today. But in some negotiations, this just doesn’t work,” the diplomat added.
The disastrous meeting, proven reside round the world, ended with Trump and Vice President JD Vance accusing Zelensky of not wanting peace and not being grateful sufficient.
While many officers watched the assembly with horror, it received Zelensky reward in Ukraine. His approval rankings obtained a lift and Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine’s prime minister, advised NCS she was pleased with Zelensky that day. “He defended the position of the Ukrainian people,” she mentioned.
Not everybody was stunned by Vance’s feedback. European allies already had loads of expertise of Zelensky’s brusque method. “The Ukrainians were always very demanding and very direct, always asking for more, especially in the beginning,” the European diplomat advised NCS.
In the early days of the full-scale invasion, in calls to different leaders, Zelensky would skip the customary niceties and go straight to a request for extra weapons.
“They were under attack, they were fighting for their lives, and they were looking for weapons,” the diplomat mentioned. “This was well understood in Europe, where we all knew they were fighting for our security as well. If you come to Kyiv, you’d see there’s no time to say thank you … but this is a lot less clear if you are far away, like in the White House.”
Since the disastrous Oval Office assembly, nevertheless, Zelensky has discovered a strategy to talk with Trump, based on US Senator Richard Blumenthal, an in depth ally of Zelensky, who spoke to NCS in Kyiv this week.
“I think he actually has been extremely adroit and insightful in dealing with this administration,” Blumenthal mentioned. “He has mastered an understanding of how to be resolute and firm, but at the same time, appreciative for what America is doing. And I think he’s very genuine about it.”
Four years into the war, Zelensky still enjoys ballot rankings that many leaders may solely dream of. While they’ve fluctuated since the begin of the war, dropping throughout Ukraine’s unsuccessful counteroffensives and corruption scandals, they’ve by no means fallen under 52%, based on polling knowledge from the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS).
When Zelensky visited Prague final 12 months, each minute of his schedule was meticulously deliberate. There was no time to spare – till somebody let it slip that there was a bunch of Ukrainian cleaners working in the Czech Parliament. Zelensky determined he merely had to fulfill them.
The Czechs rolled out the pink carpet for Zelensky, but it was a photograph of him being embraced by the grinning cleansing women that grew to become the defining image of the complete go to.
“It is very typical. He will always fight with his security to let people approach him. He believes that this is what he needs to do,” mentioned Volodymyr Paniotto, a sociologist and the president of KIIS.
But his man-of-the-people picture has suffered some severe blows over the previous 12 months, and a corruption scandal has proved significantly damaging to a president elected on a promise to wash up politics. Anti-government protests in July final 12 months have been adopted by criticism from Ukraine’s western allies, together with the European Union, which has made it clear to Kyiv that it should implement robust anti-graft measures if it needs to affix, forcing Zelensky to reverse his plans.
Corruption scandals have introduced down a number of folks in Zelensky’s internal circle, together with his former enterprise associate Timur Mindich and his long-time right-hand man Andriy Yermak, main some observers to query whether or not Zelensky had a bent to over-rely on tainted allies.
For years, Yermak specifically appeared untouchable. But even he couldn’t stand up to being implicated in a scandal over alleged kickbacks in the power sector at a time when Ukrainians have been freezing due to fixed Russian assaults on power infrastructure.
While Zelensky has by no means been immediately implicated, Cichocki, the former Polish ambassador, advised NCS he was unsure the president may climate the Yermak bombshell. “I thought this was the end for him. And after a month, with a new team in place, he is back, like the Phoenix,” he mentioned.
The years of strain and heartbreak have taken a visual toll on Zelensky. His pre-war youthful and cleanshaven face is lengthy gone, overtaken by fear traces and more and more grey stubble.
He drinks plenty of espresso – black, no sugar – to get by means of the work day, which normally begins between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m., when the first battlefield studies begin coming in. Zelenska advised NCS that taking a look at her husband, it appears like the war has been happening quite a bit longer than 4 years.
She mentioned that there has not been a single second of full happiness since the war began. That should wait till after the battle is over. Instead, she focuses on transient moments of pleasure, akin to when the household obtained a brand new pet and introduced it residence for the first time.
“You can see that looking at him. But that is not as important as what he is going through on the inside, on an emotional level.”
Lytvyn, who spends most days in fixed contact with Zelensky, mentioned he has not misplaced his humorousness and does – typically – discover time to loosen up with a e-book or a film, particularly on lengthy prepare journeys.
“What I admire about him is that no matter what he went through, he remains a decent guy,” he mentioned. “He treats people better than they treat him.”
The comedian-turned-president has survived till now, towards lengthy odds. But the image is probably bleaker than ever earlier than.
Ukrainians throughout the nation are freezing in the darkness as Russia continues its marketing campaign of strikes on power infrastructure. Ukraine’s frontline defenses have held up – but solely simply. Russia slowly continues grinding ahead, albeit at astronomical value.
And whereas Zelensky has managed to restore his relationship with Trump, he has not swayed him into reinstating US army support. Instead, Trump continues to press Zelensky into negotiations that look more and more stacked towards Ukraine.
Paniotto mentioned that most Ukrainians oppose holding elections – not solely throughout the war, but even throughout any type of momentary ceasefire. “In the eyes of the majority, Zelensky is the leader who should take the country to peace,” Paniotto advised NCS.
When and how that will occur is unclear. But Sybiha advised NCS he has each religion in Zelensky’s skill to get there: “He knows how to roll with the punches.”