Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was named TIME magazine’s “Person of the Year” on Wednesday. The former actor and comedian who decided to remain in Ukraine after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his so-called ‘military operation’ has been praised for his courage.
The Time magazine’s editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal wrote: “Volodymyr Zelensky galvanized the world in a way we haven’t seen in decades.” In the weeks after Russian bombs began falling on February 24, his decision not to flee Kyiv but to stay and support the rally was fateful. From her first 40-second Instagram post on Feb.
25—showing that his Cabinet and civil society were intact and in place—to daily speeches delivered remotely to the likes of the houses of Parliament, the World Bank, and the Grammy Awards, Ukraine’s President was everywhere. His information offensive shifted the geopolitical weather system, setting off a wave of action that swept the globe.”
Zelensky dealt another blow to the ambitions of Russian President Vladimir Putin when he traveled to Sloviansk, a town not far from Bakhmut, which is part of eastern Donetsk, which Russia annexed and claimed as its own in September.
The Time magazine’s profile on the Ukrainian president said that Zelensky’s success as a wartime leader shows that courage is infectious.