By Matthias Williams

KYIV (Reuters – Volodymyr Zeleskiy swept into power in 2013 promising an end to the war against Moscow-backed separatists from eastern Ukraine. Now, he faces Russian invasion that could lead to the destruction of his government and end of Ukrainian democracy.

Zelenskiy, a Russian missile attack on Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, on Thursday appealed for all Ukrainian citizens to protect Ukraine and said weapons would be provided to anyone who requested them.

Zelenskiy stated to Ukrainians that Russia had “tragedy attacked” our country this morning just like Nazi Germany during World War Two.

“Russian has taken a dangerous path, but Ukraine will defend itself. Moscow may think so, but Ukraine won’t compromise its independence.”

This is the worst outcome possible for Zelenskiy (a former comedian actor, 44 years old) whose insistence over two years on NATO admitting Ukraine as a ex-Soviet Republic has angered Vladimir Putin.

Moscow demanded NATO to promise not to accept Ukraine. This was despite it being a nation of great geopolitical and historical importance for Russia. The West subsequently rejected this demand. Putin said Monday that Ukraine is not allowed to exist independently and was part of Russia.

Zelenskiy, who has been praised by Western leaders in recent weeks for his calm and appeals to Ukrainians to not panic when Russia deployed up to 150,000 soldiers near the border, has received praise.

He also criticized foreign embassies in Ukraine and Ukrainian businessmen who left Ukraine for security concerns.

SERVANT OF OUR PEOPLE

Zelenskiy, however, is a rare wartime leader. His first television appearance was in “Servant of the People,” in which he played a straight-talking schoolteacher who wins election as president. He outwits corrupt legislators and shadowy businessmen.

After winning the April 2019 presidential election by a wide margin, he promised to end corruption in Ukraine that had impeded its transition from communism into democracy. Russia is the greatest obstacle to his ambitions to create a stable, modern and democratic country in Europe.

Zelenskiy’s Servant of the People party was named after the series and won a huge majority at a July 2019 election. Zelenskiy had initially sought to build confidence with Russia in the eastern Ukraine region, which included prisoner swaps.

However, this minor thaw didn’t last very long. Russia, which has seized Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in 2014, continues to support armed separatists fighting Kyiv’s forces within the predominantly Russian-speaking Donbass area of eastern Ukraine. Zelenskiy estimates that this conflict has claimed at most 15,000 lives.

Zelenskiy risked Moscow’s fury by meeting Western leaders including President Joe Biden, at negotiations in the White House, Sept. 1, 2021.

Zelenskiy stated in a June 2021 interview, “Everyone must understand…that war is raging, that democracy in Europe is being defended, and that our country needs to be protected, so you can’t just speak about reforms.”

“We prove every day that we are more ready than any other country in the European Union to be part of (NATO), the alliance.”

‘A NEW FACE’

In 2019, Zelenskiy won over Petro Poroshenko, a wealthy businessman who rode the wave of discontent against Ukraine’s corrupt political leadership to win.

When asked by Reuters about his differences from the other presidential hopefuls ahead of the election, Zelenskiy pointed at his face and said: “This is a brand new face.” “I have never been involved in politics.”

I have never deceived anyone. People identify with me for my openness, vulnerability, anger, and frustration. I don’t know what I do, so I admit it. “I will admit that I do not know anything if I’m not sure.”

Zelenskiy failed to fulfill his promise to limit the political influence of tycoons. He was forced to deny suspicions that he was a puppet of Ihorkolomoisky, an Oligarch, who broadcast “Servant Of The People” on TV.

Zelenskiy also found himself unintentionally drawn into U.S. politics following a call by then-President Donald Trump in which he tried to persuade him to look into his Democratic rival Biden’s business deals with Ukraine.

After an investigation concluded that Trump had withheld Ukrainian military aid in order to exert influence over Kyiv, the Democrat-led U.S. House of Representatives impeached him. Trump denied wrongdoing and the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate later acquitted him.