On February 26th, the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, sent a message to his citizens through SNS at the main street of Ukraine's capital, Kiev. In the video, he said, "There are some rumors. That Ukraine agreed to surrender and evacuated. But here I am. We will not let go of our weapons."

The leadership of Zelensky against Russia received attention. The U.S.A. warned him that he would be the first target of Russia, but he refused the U.S.A.’s evacuation assistance and remined in Kiev. At the U.S.A. Congress on March 16th, he asked for air and missile support and said that he never thought of giving up for even a second. After the speech, President Joe Biden responded by accepting an additional 800 million dollars in aid to Ukraine. 

Volodymyr Zelensky is the sixth president of Ukraine, and he was a comedian before became president. His father is a professor of cyber networks and computer hardware, and his mother is an engineer, majoring in law at the Kyiv National University of Economics. Zelensky supported the Ukrainian government forces during the Donbas War and took the role of a great president in the drama 'Servant of the People, which aired from 2015 to 2019.

Hong Seok-Woo (Prof. of Ukrainian, Hankuk University of foreign studies) said that the main reason why Zelensky was elected was because of his desire to Ukraine. Prof. Hong also said, "The Soviet Union ruled Ukraine. Even after independence from the Soviet Union, they could not escape the rotten system and the influence of Russia. They had difficulties establishing democracy and capitalism because of the pro-Russian politicians and oligarchs." The people of Ukraine led the regime change by launching the Orange Revolution in 2004 and the Euromaidan Revolution in 2013 to 2014. Nevertheless, the corruption did not accept the people's will.

"In the 2019 presidential election, the people of Ukraine elected Zelensky, who was not a politician. They thought it would be better for a non-political person to be president rather than corrupted politicians." Hong analyzed. Eventually, it was the reflection of the demands of the Ukrainian people.

Even nowadays, Zelensky remains in Ukraine and leads the government. According to the Kiev Independent report, the Ukrainian non-governmental opinion polling agency 'Ratings' figured 2,000 citizens aged 18 and over in all regions. They found that 91% of the respondents supported the current president. 

Prof. Hong said, "The most common thing is sometimes the most difficult. People tend to run away when their lives are at risk. But Zelensky did the bravest thing, exactly what Ukrainians wanted in the most difficult time. The act of sacrificing oneself to protect the country touched his people and the world's leaders. It made others help the Ukrainians."

Because Zelensky was a comedian without any political background, he was marked incompetent at the beginning. But this war finally provided a new opportunity to evaluate his leadership. 

Prof. Hong said, "In general, those who support Russia point out Zelensky's incompetence. Also, there are some people who say that he was inappropriate and could not prevent the war in advance. But this is not true. Before discussing President Zelensky's incompetence, we should first discuss the harms of Russia's policy of obstruction and division."

Editor-in-Chief Lee Chae-Hyeon

Translated by Yun Chae-Eun