man I hope Putin croaks soon and the Russians fold so this absolute champ can retire and chill the way he deserves
I recall him being a talented pianist but not much else
Awesome comedian. Sadly, it’s in the past now.
I thought he was too emotional for a head of state. I also was concerned about his pro-Russian stance.
I didn’t expect much from him.
Now let’s talk about the really interesting man in Ukraine for my money, Budanov. Would love to have a candid and confidential lunch with him.
He was not fit for it. Won the election yes (people were tired of corruption, especially since 2014 didn’t do much in that regard) but during his term didn’t do anything in particular. This invasion completely change him.
Stress takes years off a life
for me as for person who voted against zelensky, his populistic politics was pathetic and I didnt like him. He thought that he can negotiate with putin and “we just need to sieze fire”. but like 1 year before war he bacame mo radical against putin (I gess just realized that isn’t possible to have resonable negotiations with mf).
I found it interesting a comedian can actually win elections and become a decent politician who’s proving to have much more integrity than your usual career politicians. I found him to give off good guy vibes, if that’s a thing. From what I could perceive. He seemed funny, genuine, and just a nice and open character who just likes to sit down and talk with people to get things moving. That’s what I’d thought of him before 2022. All he ever did since then, just reinforced these beliefs and observations. He is a good guy indeed.
It’s pretty interesting to see what some of the boots on the ground ukrainians think about him compared to the westerners/non ukrainians. I imagine when he took the office of the president the last thing he was probably thinking about was becoming a wartime president during a full scale conventional war just 3 years into his presidency. I remember when he said “i’m not going anywhere I need weapons” during the early days of the war and seeing people on reddit proclaming him as the 21st century winston churchill and how that video reminded them of his “we will never surrender” speech
The pressure must be terrible, god bless this unsung hero
Good man. Heart in right place. Slava Ukraini
Knew barely anything about him
I remember applauding him for standing up to Trump when he refused to “give him dirt” of the Biden family.
Clearly a principled man.
He’s a tuff motherfucker…….
I love next to their border and didn’t knew he was called Volodymyr. Now he’s known everywhere (due to a war that shouldn’t have happened)
If I recall he actually acted in a movie where he played a teacher that due to circumstances became the president against his will. So surreal that he acted in a role that is similar to what actually happened later irl.
I didn’t know much about him before the war but I think he is an exceptional
Same as today being a leader ways heavy. You age fast when you are like your people, love your country.
I feel really bad for him and his wife. They are fighting the forces of evil, literally. NATO could end this faster than the Desert Storm if they wanted to.
I was afraid that he would be weak, incompetent and lose the war immediately. the beginning of 2022 showed that I was completely wrong.
His first year was weird. Just prosecuting everyone he didn’t like and putting his friends into political positions. But he got it together fairly quick. He realised that he knows jack shit about how to run different things and just surrounded himself with people who knew that and trusted them. That was a top tier move. The country was moving fast in IT, they simplified so many things for regular citizens and it was hard not to tolerate him at least. It wasn’t ideal, but you could absolutely see the hope of good life coming and the youth supported it.
Not Ukrainian but from the region and have close Ukrainian friends.
They voted against him. They believed that he was controlled opposition with backing from Russia due to his rhetoric of wanting to make peace with Russia prior to the full scale invasion in 2022 and not being hard enough against Russia.
They ALL changed their tunes once the invasion began and Zelensky didn’t budge. He has their full support nowadays, and is a bit of hero.
I thought it was insane how he played the part of President as an actor only to later become one. I was neutral, he seemed like he cared about improving Ukraine. I respect him, he told Biden he needed guns, not a ride out of Kyiv. I wish death upon Putin, and those Russian dogs that follow him wholeheartedly. They truly bring nothing good to this world. We will be better off without them.
I’m not a native Ukrainian, just live here. While I like him in general and think a lot of the criticisms of him are unfair, he is HIGHLY sexist by western standards, as you’d expect of his demographic. The way he views gender roles in some of his old interviews is frankly kinda gross. I also think some westerners fangirl over him to the point of being delusional. Before the war people were VERY unhappy with him, for reasons that imo have more to do with their political history than him. With that said if I could choose from the 2019 bench, he would still be the best candidate by a long shot, and I think he’s been largely (though not in every instance) effective and invaluable since 2022.
25 comments
man I hope Putin croaks soon and the Russians fold so this absolute champ can retire and chill the way he deserves
I recall him being a talented pianist but not much else
Awesome comedian. Sadly, it’s in the past now.
I thought he was too emotional for a head of state. I also was concerned about his pro-Russian stance.
I didn’t expect much from him.
Now let’s talk about the really interesting man in Ukraine for my money, Budanov. Would love to have a candid and confidential lunch with him.
He was not fit for it. Won the election yes (people were tired of corruption, especially since 2014 didn’t do much in that regard) but during his term didn’t do anything in particular. This invasion completely change him.
Stress takes years off a life
for me as for person who voted against zelensky, his populistic politics was pathetic and I didnt like him. He thought that he can negotiate with putin and “we just need to sieze fire”. but like 1 year before war he bacame mo radical against putin (I gess just realized that isn’t possible to have resonable negotiations with mf).
I found it interesting a comedian can actually win elections and become a decent politician who’s proving to have much more integrity than your usual career politicians. I found him to give off good guy vibes, if that’s a thing. From what I could perceive. He seemed funny, genuine, and just a nice and open character who just likes to sit down and talk with people to get things moving. That’s what I’d thought of him before 2022.
All he ever did since then, just reinforced these beliefs and observations. He is a good guy indeed.
It’s pretty interesting to see what some of the boots on the ground ukrainians think about him compared to the westerners/non ukrainians. I imagine when he took the office of the president the last thing he was probably thinking about was becoming a wartime president during a full scale conventional war just 3 years into his presidency. I remember when he said “i’m not going anywhere I need weapons” during the early days of the war and seeing people on reddit proclaming him as the 21st century winston churchill and how that video reminded them of his “we will never surrender” speech
The pressure must be terrible, god bless this unsung hero
Good man. Heart in right place. Slava Ukraini
Knew barely anything about him
I remember applauding him for standing up to Trump when he refused to “give him dirt” of the Biden family.
Clearly a principled man.
He’s a tuff motherfucker…….
I love next to their border and didn’t knew he was called Volodymyr. Now he’s known everywhere (due to a war that shouldn’t have happened)
If I recall he actually acted in a movie where he played a teacher that due to circumstances became the president against his will.
So surreal that he acted in a role that is similar to what actually happened later irl.
I didn’t know much about him before the war but I think he is an exceptional
Same as today being a leader ways heavy. You age fast when you are like your people, love your country.
I feel really bad for him and his wife. They are fighting the forces of evil, literally. NATO could end this faster than the Desert Storm if they wanted to.
I was afraid that he would be weak, incompetent and lose the war immediately. the beginning of 2022 showed that I was completely wrong.
His first year was weird. Just prosecuting everyone he didn’t like and putting his friends into political positions. But he got it together fairly quick. He realised that he knows jack shit about how to run different things and just surrounded himself with people who knew that and trusted them. That was a top tier move. The country was moving fast in IT, they simplified so many things for regular citizens and it was hard not to tolerate him at least. It wasn’t ideal, but you could absolutely see the hope of good life coming and the youth supported it.
Not Ukrainian but from the region and have close Ukrainian friends.
They voted against him. They believed that he was controlled opposition with backing from Russia due to his rhetoric of wanting to make peace with Russia prior to the full scale invasion in 2022 and not being hard enough against Russia.
They ALL changed their tunes once the invasion began and Zelensky didn’t budge. He has their full support nowadays, and is a bit of hero.
I thought it was insane how he played the part of President as an actor only to later become one. I was neutral, he seemed like he cared about improving Ukraine. I respect him, he told Biden he needed guns, not a ride out of Kyiv. I wish death upon Putin, and those Russian dogs that follow him wholeheartedly. They truly bring nothing good to this world. We will be better off without them.
I’m not a native Ukrainian, just live here. While I like him in general and think a lot of the criticisms of him are unfair, he is HIGHLY sexist by western standards, as you’d expect of his demographic. The way he views gender roles in some of his old interviews is frankly kinda gross. I also think some westerners fangirl over him to the point of being delusional. Before the war people were VERY unhappy with him, for reasons that imo have more to do with their political history than him. With that said if I could choose from the 2019 bench, he would still be the best candidate by a long shot, and I think he’s been largely (though not in every instance) effective and invaluable since 2022.
I like this one
[Clip of Comedian Zelenskyy, many years ago, saying: “One day we will have a president, about whom everyone in Ukraine will gather in their kitchens and say, ‘My God, how long have we been looking for you?”, followed by second clip of President Zelenskyy’s New Years’s speech : r/UkraineWarVideoReport (reddit.com)](https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/10ah1z1/clip_of_comedian_zelenskyy_many_years_ago_saying/)