[133] Although the ceasefire was frequently violated over the next few years and overall violence remained high, ceasefire violations in 2020 did decrease by over 50 per cent compared to the previous year. With inputs from agencies. The President won't be offended if BBC standards assume different transliteration", Zelensky Unchained: What Ukraine's New Political Order Means For Its Future, "Ukraine Lifts Prosecutorial Immunity For Members Of Parliament", "Ukraine's anti-corruption effort struggles, but soldiers on", Faltering fightback: Zelensky's piecemeal campaign against Ukraine's oligarchs, "FT Person of the Year: Volodymyr Zelenskyy. [268], In response to suggestions to the contrary, he stated in April 2019 that he regarded Russian president Vladimir Putin "as an enemy". [132] In July 2020, Zelenskyy announced a formal ceasefire with the separatists the more than twentieth such attempt since the war began in 2014. [176] In the early hours of 26 February, during the most significant assault by Russian troops on the capital of Kyiv, the United States government and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoan urged Zelenskyy to evacuate to a safer location, and both offered assistance for such an effort. Their son, Kyrylo, was born in January 2013. Please submit all media inquiries to interviews@usip.org or call 202.429.3869. [34] In the series, Zelenskyy's character was a high-school history teacher in his 30s who won the presidential election after a viral video showed him ranting against government corruption in Ukraine. The Vice President has departed for Kyiv, Ukraine, where he will meet with President Petro Poroshenko, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Ukrainian reformers from both government and civil society, and deliver a speech to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. It's a great, pleasure to be once more here in Kyiv to reaffirm the depth of the partnership between our two peoples. [197] He proposed a new collective security agreement for Ukraine with the United States, Turkey, France, Germany as an alternative to the country joining NATO. So Is Its Prime Minister. [230], Zelenskyy denounced suggestions by former US diplomat Henry Kissinger that Ukraine should cede control of Crimea and Donbas to Russia in exchange for peace. [241] Following Putin's announcement of Russia annexing four regions of Ukrainian territory it had seized during its invasion, Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine would not hold peace talks with Russia while Putin was president. The 46th and current president of the United States is Joseph R. Biden, Jr. [259][260], Zelenskyy has tried to position Ukraine as a neutral party in the political and trade tensions between the United States and China. [227][228] As Zelenskyy ordered a general military mobilization in February 2022, he also banned men aged 18 to 60 from leaving Ukraine. "[117], Zelenskyy dismissed Bohdan as head of his presidential administration on 11 February 2020 and appointed Andriy Yermak as his successor the same day. A political party bearing the same name as the television show was created in March 2018 by employees of Kvartal 95. [134], On 8 January 2020, the Presidential Office announced that Volodymyr Zelenskyy was cutting his trip to Oman short owing to the Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 plane crash in nearby Iran the same day. [156], In April 2021, in response to Russian military build-up at the Ukrainian borders, Zelenskyy spoke to American president Joe Biden and urged NATO members to speed up Ukraine's request for membership. [80][81] European Commission president Jean Claude Juncker and European Council president Donald Tusk also issued a joint letter of congratulations and stated that the European Union (EU) will work to speed up the implementation of the remainder of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, including the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area. [124] Zelenskyy defended his negotiations, saying the elections would not be held before a Russian withdrawal. [291], Ausichicrinites zelenskyyi, an extinct species of feather star described on 20 July 2022 by a group of Polish paleontologists, is named after Zelenskyy "for his courage and bravery in defending free Ukraine".[304][305]. Vitaliy. Vice President Kamala Harris' visit with staunch NATO ally Poland became partly a clean-up mission Thursday after a controversy erupted over a proposal to provide fighter jets to Ukraine. People. Vice President Kamala Harris stressed on Saturday that Russia must be held to account for its "barbaric" actions in Ukraine, telling a security conference in Munich that the United States had. [104] Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., represented Delaware for 36 years in the U.S. Senate before becoming the 47th and current Vice President of the United States. He said this on the air of the American TV channel Fox News. Kyiv, Ukraine. [266][267] As he considered the leaders of the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic (DPR and LPR) to be Russia's "puppets", it would "make no sense to speak with them". [224] Zelenskyy has also supported consolidating all TV news stations into a single 24-hour news broadcast run by the state of Ukraine. Shefir was unhurt in the attack, although his driver was hospitalized with three bullet wounds. [6][7][8], During his presidential campaign, Zelenskyy promised to end Ukraine's protracted conflict with Russia, and he has attempted to engage in dialogue with Russian president Vladimir Putin. [281], In September 2003, Zelenskyy married Olena Kiyashko, with whom he had attended school and university. In January 2021, Zelenskyy said in an interview with Axios that he does not perceive China as a geopolitical threat and that he does not agree with the United States assertions that it represents one. In 2016, she participated in the show The Comedy Comet Company Comedy's Kids and won 50,000. [175] In an early morning address that day, Zelenskyy said that his intelligence services had identified him as Russia's top target, but that he is staying in Kyiv and his family will remain in the country. In Zelenskyy's 2014 movie 8 New Dates, their daughter played Sasha, the daughter of the protagonist. By AAMER MADHANI and MATTHEW LEE February 18, 2022. But the answer depends only on you, the citizens of the Russian Federation. Nevertheless he was criticised for a lack of transparency and critics pointed out he had once criticized his predecessor Poroshenko for taking an undisclosed vacation in the Maldives. This has been going on a long time. Burisma hired Hunter Biden to serve as a board member in 2014 when his vice president father was leading the Obama administration's Ukraine policy and paid him up to $1 million per year, despite . In 2019, he served as charg d'affaires at the U.S. embassy in Kyiv and as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine from 2006 . [70][71][72] In his introductory speech, Zelenskyy acknowledged that in 2014 he voted for Poroshenko, but "I was mistaken. [64][59] During the campaign, concerns were raised over his links to the oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi,[65] a billionaire businessman who had gained control of the 1+1 Media Group in 2010. [60][61] He styled himself as an anti-establishment, anti-corruption figure, although he was not generally described as a populist. [125] On 11 July 2019, Zelenskyy held his first telephone conversation with Russian president Vladimir Putin, during which he urged Putin to enter into talks mediated by European countries. [79] On 22 April, U.S. president Donald Trump congratulated Zelenskyy on his victory over the telephone. [113], In the 21 July 2019 parliamentary election, Zelenskyy's political party, Servant of the People, won the first single-party majority in modern Ukrainian history in parliament, with 43 per cent of the party-list vote. We will be right by your side to rebuild a modern, prosperous Ukraine firmly anchored on our common European path. [226] In May 2022, Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian men of conscription age had a duty to remain in Ukraine and that up to 100 Ukrainian soldiers were killed every day in the fighting in eastern Ukraine. From 21 January until 18 April 2019 Zelenskyy did not give interviews. White nationalist livestreamer Nicholas Fuentes has made no secret of where his loyalties lie in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. 28 October 2021 - 22:17 President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Vice-President,Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of the Swiss Confederation Ignazio Cassis. [196] On 8 March, Zelenskyy expressed willingness to discuss Putin's demands. We were mistaken. [19] The family lives in Kyiv. The vice president's experience offers a reminder of the urgent need for a bipartisan foreign policy. [107] Bohdan, however, contended that because heading the presidential administration is not considered civil service work, lustration did not apply to him. The president of Ukraine (Ukrainian: , romanized: Prezydent Ukrainy) is the head of state of Ukraine.The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, conducts negotiations and concludes international treaties.The president is directly elected by the citizens of Ukraine for a five-year term . Despite this, Zelenskyy highlighted that the day would "honor heroes" on Independence Day, however the "format will be new". [9] His administration faced an escalation of tensions with Russia in 2021, culminating in the launch of an ongoing full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022. ", "How Ukraine's Presidential Race Is Shaping Up", "Comedian faces scrutiny over oligarch ties in Ukraine presidential race", "Volodymyr Zelensky: April 1 an awesome day for a clown to win", "Ukraine media demands access to runoff frontrunner Zelensky", "The World Just Witnessed the First Entirely Virtual Presidential Campaign", "Ukraine election: Why comic Zelenskiy is real threat to Poroshenko", "Crowdsourcer In Chief: Ukrainian Funnyman Takes Unorthodox Path To Top Of Presidential Pack", "Zelensky: Party "Servant of the people" goes into politics", " " " ", "Ukraine elections: actor and comedian poised to win crushing victory", "Ukraine election: Poroshenko attacks Zelensky before runoff", "Rivals in Ukraine's presidential runoff hold bitter debate at sports stadium", "How the Ukraine Scandal Looks in Ukraine", " vs : ", " : , ", " : "", " , ", " ", "Central Election Commission of Ukraine Ukrainian Presidential Election 2019 (first round)", "Ukraine election: Comedian Zelensky wins presidency by landslide", "Election of President of Ukraine 2019 Repeat voting", " ", " ", "Ukraine vaults into unknown after comic elected president", "Joint letter of President Tusk and President Juncker to Volodymyr Zelensky, President-elect of Ukraine Consilium", "Ukraine's New President Vows To Dissolve Parliament As PM, Other Key Officials Resign", "Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised international partners that the world would be proud of Ukraine", "New Ukraine President Zelensky calls snap election", "Zelensky may dissolve parliament despite People's Front withdrawal from coalition expert", "Georgia's Saakashvili has Ukrainian citizenship restored", "UAWire Ukrainian parliament rejects Zelensky's proposal to change election system", " , ", "Quick win for Zelenskiy as Ukraine parliament strips lawmakers' immunity", "Zelensky cancels Independence Day parade on August 24 citing costs", "Zelensky cancels Independence Day military parade, gives money to soldiers | KyivPost Ukraine's Global Voice", "No Independence Day parade to be held this year, Zelensky says", "Bonuses instead of parade: Ukraine's leader takes surprising decision", "Voice of America: Journalists see censorship in Ukraine's proposed media laws", "Journalists See Specter of Censorship in Ukraine's Proposed Media Law", " " ", " . Published Nov. 10, 2019 Updated Sept. 1, 2021. President Trump and his allies have been trying to get Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden for his role in what Rudy Giuliani called a "massive bribery scheme.". Zelenskyy turned down both offers and opted to remain in Kyiv with its defense forces, saying that "the fight is here [in Kyiv]; I need ammunition, not a ride". On 7 March 2022, Czech president Milo Zeman decided to award Zelenskyy with the highest state award of the Czech Republic, the Order of the White Lion, for "his bravery and courage in the face of Russia's invasion". [88], In addition, on 6 June, lawmakers refused to include Zelenskyy's key initiative on reintroducing criminal liability for illegal enrichment in the parliament's agenda, and instead included a similar bill proposed by a group of deputies. 2000 - Graduated from Kyiv National Economic University, with a law degree. [278][279] Civil rights organizations praised the statement, though criticizing its vagueness, as Zelenskyy eschewed details about legal proposals for civil partnerships.