\n Russia thought it would topple Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky within days after invading in February 2022 for what it planned to be a quick victorious war.\n<\/p>\n
\n Instead, the comedian-turned-leader became the face of his country's -- and Europe's -- resistance, repeatedly defying the odds in the face of relentless Russian attacks that have killed tens of thousands of his citizens.\n<\/p>\n
\n Now Zelensky faces what he has called \"one of the most difficult moments of our history\", with Russia advancing at its fastest pace in a year and a domestic corruption scandal that has forced him to sack his powerful top aide.\n<\/p>\n
\n And US President Donald Trump is pushing a peace plan that many in Kyiv see as quasi-capitulation, while also backing Russia's call for new presidential elections in Ukraine.\n<\/p>\n
\n Despite polls being suspended under martial law, Zelensky said he would hold a vote if the United States and Europe guaranteed security.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"I am ready for the elections,\" the 47-year-old said.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'Informal' -\n<\/p>\n
\n The charismatic leader has a track record of coming out on top when the chips are down.\n<\/p>\n
\n When Russian troops marched on Kyiv in February 2022, Zelensky -- Ukraine's youngest-ever president -- refused a US evacuation offer, staying in the capital to lead the fight.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"We are not putting down arms,\" he said in an iconic address to Ukrainians, delivered in the darkness outside the presidential compound.\n<\/p>\n
\n As Moscow seized town after town, rained missiles on cities and forced millions to flee, Zelensky kept up morale with daily video addresses to the nation.\n<\/p>\n
\n Touring allies relentlessly, he convinced the West to arm Ukraine.\n<\/p>\n
\n His resistance infuriated his nemesis Vladimir Putin, an ex-KGB agent in power for 25 years who bet he could easily outmanoeuvre the political novice.\n<\/p>\n
\n In contrast to the Russian leader, Zelensky regularly visits soldiers on the front line, as well as ordinary people, children, families and victims of Russian strikes.\n<\/p>\n
\n Being with people is what energises him, one senior official in Kyiv told AFP.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"I don't think the office-based part is his thing,\" they said, speaking on condition of anonymity.\n<\/p>\n
\n His \"informal\", man-of-the-people style has been credited with instilling confidence and admiration at home and among allies.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'Tougher' -\n<\/p>\n
\n According to his wife Olena Zelenska, the scale of the February 2022 invasion was a shock to her husband, who thought Russia would at most occupy an eastern pocket of Ukraine.\n<\/p>\n
\n The discovery weeks later that Russian forces had killed dozens of civilians in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha was a turning point.\n<\/p>\n
\n Walking on a street that had been strewn with bodies was one of the few times Zelensky appeared visibly shaken.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"It's very difficult to talk,\" he said, his voice quivering. \"These are war crimes.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n Before winning office, Zelensky had pledged to end the conflict with Russian-backed separatists in the east.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"We just need to stop shooting,\" he had told journalists, speaking in Russian.\n<\/p>\n
\n Now he openly admits to hating Putin, whom he has branded a \"dictator\" and \"murderer\".\n<\/p>\n
\n \"He became much tougher,\" said one person in Zelensky's entourage who knew him long before politics.\n<\/p>\n
\n Once near-universally admired, that steeliness has grated on Trump over the last year, most notably in their infamous Oval Office clash.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'Strategy' -\n<\/p>\n
\n Zelensky won a 2019 presidential vote by a landslide but made little progress on campaign pledges in his first years in office.\n<\/p>\n
\n Russia's invasion put internal politics -- traditionally feisty and volatile -- on hold.\n<\/p>\n
\n But tensions have risen as the conflict has dragged on.\n<\/p>\n
\n He has faced criticism for sidelining opponents -- like removing popular ex-army chief Valery Zaluzhny -- and accusations he and now-dismissed chief aide Andriy Yermak centralised too much power.\n<\/p>\n
\n A former top security official told AFP that \"the word 'strategy' is an obscenity\" inside Zelensky's administration, with \"no planning beyond tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow\".\n<\/p>\n
\n From his team he demands both creativity and speed, others said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"He's someone who, when given two options, one and two, tries to find a third, original one,\" the current official said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"That is definitely his strong suit, which probably lets him, you could say, turn the chessboard around.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n \"He'll ask 10 times, 'Why can't we speed up here? Why can't we push this through faster?'\"\n<\/p>\n
\n Polls suggest a majority of Ukrainians retain confidence in Zelensky -- around 60 percent said in October they trusted him.\n<\/p>\n
\n But this is down from sky-high approval at the start of the war.\n<\/p>\n
\n As for a possible election, a November survey had him top, on 20.3 percent. Zaluzhny was close behind on 19.1 percent.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'Beg on my knees' -\n<\/p>\n
\n A father of two and from a Russian-speaking family of Jewish descent, Zelensky owed much of his early career success to the Russian show-business industry.\n<\/p>\n
\n A comedy competition that sent winners to Moscow was a ticket out of industrial Kryvyi Rig, his gangster-ridden hometown.\n<\/p>\n
\n In 2013, he co-presented Russian state TV's New Year's Eve show, entertaining figures that a decade later shouted diatribes about him on pro-war propaganda shows.\n<\/p>\n
\n On Ukrainian TV, he played a fictional president, leveraging the role in his real run for office.\n<\/p>\n
\n After Moscow annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and started backing pro-Russian separatists in the east, comedian Zelensky turned to the camera in one show to address Putin directly.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"If you need it, I will even beg on my knees, but do not put our country on its knees.\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Russia thought it would topple Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky within days after invading in February 2022 for what it planned to be a quick victorious war. Instead, the comedian-turned-leader became the face of his country's -- and Europe's -- resistance, repeatedly defying the odds in the face of relentless Russian attacks that have killed tens of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-153564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n