Zelensky is the first major biography of Ukraine's leader written for a Western audience.

Told with flair and authority, it is the gripping story of one of the most admired leaders in the world.

Action-packed biography of Ukraine's comedian-turned-President

Millions who have admired Volodymyr Zelensky's defiance during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will learn much from this up-to-date biography of the Ukrainian President.

Zelensky's life to date has been packed with drama and action.

By the age of 20, the Jewish boy from the provincial town of Kryvyi Rih had become a star of the stage.

• At 30, he headed a multimillion-dollar TV company.

• At 40, he played a history teacher who becomes President in a TV series.

• Then he launched a real-life political party named after the TV show, won a landslide victory and became Ukraine's real President.

• When Russian troops flooded across the border, Zelensky refused Western offers to leave Kyiv. He has marshalled Ukraine's resistance and successfully obtained Western missile systems and anti-tank weapons.

Zelensky said: ‘If I am elected, they will first sling mud at me. Then they will learn to respect me. And finally cry when I leave.’

Zelensky is written by a long-standing Russia and Ukraine reporter and a Russian- and Ukrainian speaking researcher. It’s a pithy biography of Zelensky for anyone who wants to understand Ukraine’s charismatic head of state, his complex country, and its vexed relationship with Russia.

Covering Zelensky's life from his childhood to the Ukrainian presidency, Zelensky deals with his background in a Russian-speaking region of Ukraine, his early career in TV taking part in KVN talent competitions, and his rise through the Ukrainian and Russian television industry.

Then it deals with Zelensky's breakthrough moment in the TV series Servant of the People playing a teacher who dreams of reforming Ukraine and ending its corruption.

Elected President in real life, Zelensky's doggedness, speeches and strategy help Ukraine resist a superpower – a fight that most analysts assume Russia will quickly win. But they do not.

Zelensky and his country become symbols of defiance against Vladimir Putin's aggression. Zelensky: A Biography of Ukraine's War Leader is both an uplifting story and an urgent message from Ukraine.

About the authors

STEVEN DERIX is a journalist at the Dutch newspaper NRC. From 2014 to 2020 he was NRC correspondent for Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

MARINA SHELKUNOVA studied journalism and was a researcher and coordinator for NRC and De Standaard.

Extract

In April 2019, Volodymyr Zelensky was elected as the sixth President of Ukraine, with nearly three-quarters of the vote.

One month later, the Russian President attended the World Economic Forum in St. Petersburg. It had been five years since Russia’s annexation of Crimea but daily skirmishes between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russian separatists were still commonplace in eastern Ukraine.

‘Why did you not congratulate Volodymyr Zelenksy when he became President?’ asked the interviewer.

Putin breathed a heavy sigh. The Russian officials and business magnates in the room playfully nudged one another: this was going to be good...

Putin gave the enormous hall an almost pitying look and waited until the sniggering had died down... ‘Listen, I do not know this man. I hope that we can meet one day. As far as I can tell, he’s amazing at what he does, he’s a marvellous actor.'

Putin continued: 'But seriously: it's one thing to play a person, but quite another thing to be that person.'

Laughter and generous applause filled the room.

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