He wrote books about the environment of other figures of power in independent Ukraine, from Prime Minister Julia Tymoshenko to presidents Viktor Yushchenko – pro-Western poisoned with dioxins – and Viktor Yanukovych, pro-Russian overthrown in 2014 by the Maidan revolution. And now, in full invasion of his country, the Ukrainian journalist Serhii Rudenko (1970) publishes Zelensky. A lifelike portrait of the man who stood up to Putin, which appears as a book in the Pinolia publishing house and as an audiobook on the Storytel platform. A political portrait that shows that “the main difference between Volodymyr Zelensky and Yushenko or Yanukovych is that he had no political experience when he became president. None. He was a neophyte. In the last three years he has learned not only to be president, but to be a politician”.
Remember that Zelensky grew up in a Russophile environment and saw in Russia the center of all good things, of people he admired. How did the change come about in him?
He was born in Krivyi Rih, in the south of Ukraine. An industrial city with many factories. There he grew up and studied. But in show business he started in Russia. It was in the mid nineties. There was a game on Russian television called the Club of the Cheerful and Inventive. This program arose in the times of the USSR. It was the one that made him the star of post-Soviet space. For some time he and his friends lived in Moscow. And all of that definitely affected him. The people around him, the stars of the Russian show business, the perception of Russia as the territory where he gave concerts, shot his films. The change came, I think, when he became president. In three years, he has walked the path from the thesis “We need to achieve peace” to “We will fight Russia until victory”.
What did your series 'Server of the people' represent for the people?
The simple plot. A school teacher, Vasyl Holoborodko, ran for president and won. And then he began to fight against the old political elite building a new country. Something similar happened to Zelensky. Although his entourage says that he hesitated until the end about whether to show up.
Did the great oligarchs help him rise to power?
Surely. Television made him a star in the Ukraine. The big channels belong to the oligarchs. Yes, they supported him in the media in 2019.
How did you get 73% votes?
People believed him. The Ukrainians were tired of the old elites. They wanted new faces. They believed in the fairy tale and chose the comedian Zelensky. In our country, his victory is also called an electoral revolution.
Being an actor seemed like one of his weaknesses. Is today his great asset?
It seems to me that on February 24, 2022, when the great Russian war against Ukraine began, the actor Zelensky died. At least it has become less theatrical. Until then, he played the role of president. Now he is the president. I would like to believe that we see a different Zelensky. I want him not to repeat the mistakes he made in peacetime.
Did it represent a real change?
They sincerely believed in him. They wanted a change. Did you receive it? I don't think so.
He claims that before the war his popularity fell due to inaction against corruption.
Corruption has been and remains a big problem in Ukraine and it has not disappeared under Zelensky. I hope that after the victory we will build a different State, honest, not corrupt and focused on people. I am sure it will not be otherwise. Because we are paying a high price for a happy and prosperous future: the lives of our best women and men on the front lines.
Were you surprised when Zelensky stayed in kyiv at the beginning of the invasion?
I remember how in the first two days kyiv fought against Russian saboteurs. They were a stone's throw from the presidential residence. Her staying in his office certainly affected the course of the war. And that decision shocked me. I don't know how he felt knowing that he was one of the main targets of the Russian attackers.
How did you experience the invasion?
I was surprised in kyiv. I remember how on the morning of February 24 the first Russian ballistic missiles fell behind my house. It was terrifying. Hard to believe. Two days later, our TV channel started broadcasting from Lviv, in western Ukraine. Since then, I have lived and worked here, since a bomb shelter was installed in our old TV studio in kyiv. The hardest part was realizing that they wanted to kill you all along. But realizing that strengthens us in the belief that we will win.
Was Zelensky's election decisive for the invasion?
Putin has been preparing for war with Ukraine for 20 years. It couldn't be helped. He would have started whether Zelensky or not. Perhaps Putin thought that Ukraine was much weaker under his rule and dared to attack. He miscalculated. This war became the Ukrainian People's War. We all stand up for our country. And it was the best reagent for Zelensky. In times of peace, we would never see the qualities of him: courage and bravery. Before the war, opponents and journalists alike, myself included, blamed him for a lack of willpower. With the war, we saw a different Zelensky. And this I hope he is the real one.
What exits does this war have?
Difficult times await us. A long and drawn out war is coming. Tough tests for everyone. For Zelensky too. We must stand up and defend our land. We have to win. And Zelensky's task is to do what he can to unite the Ukrainians. Discord will ruin us inside.
