Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy was born into a Jewish family on 25 January 1978 in Kryvyi Rih, an industrial city in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast of Ukraine. what is this a reference for? --> At the time, Ukraine, known by the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union. Zelenskyy's mother, Rymma Zelenska, is a retired engineer; his father, Oleksandr Zelenskyy – a professor and computer scientist – is the head of the Department of Cybernetics and Computing Hardware at the Kryvyi Rih State University of Economics and Technology. Oleksandr's father, , served as an infantryman, reaching the rank of colonel in the Red Army (in the 57th Guards Motor Rifle Division) during World War II. Semyon's father and three brothers were killed during the Holocaust. In March 2022, Zelenskyy said that both of Semyon's parents had been killed after German troops burned their home to the ground during a massacre. Oleksandr's mother survived World War II after leaving Kryvyi Rih in an evacuation of Jews to Almaty, Kazakhstan, and returned to Ukraine after the war. Before starting elementary school, Zelenskyy lived for four years in Erdenet, Mongolia, where Oleksandr worked as a mining engineer from the mid-1970s to help build a copper mine, applying his abilities in computer science to mining. Zelenskyy grew up speaking Russian. At the age of 16, Zelenskyy took the Test of English as a Foreign Language and received an education grant to study in Israel, but Oleksandr did not allow him to go. == Entertainment career ==

KVN (1995–2003) At age 17, Zelenskyy joined his local team competing in KVN, where he became dance director and writer in 1995. in a tie with Armenian opponents. Finally, Zelenskyy declined a highly paid job offer from KVN management that would have required him to abandon Kvartal 95, choosing instead to stay with his team and return to Ukraine. Kvartal 95 Studio (right) co-hosting the opening portion of Teletriumph 2011, the national television awards of Ukraine. Kvartal 95 wrote the script and hosted the 2011 ceremony. After leaving KVN, the Kvartal 95 team moved to Kyiv, and Zelenskyy said in 2018 that he received royalties from 21 countries for the show. and co-producer of the third. In 2011, he co-wrote, co-produced, and played the male protagonist in the film Office Romance. Our Time. In 2012, he co-produced Rzhevsky Versus Napoleon and played the role of Napoleon. He also co-wrote, co-produced, and co-directed the 2018 romantic comedy Me. You. He. She, and played the male protagonist. Zelenskyy also recorded the voice of Paddington Bear in the Ukrainian dub of Paddington (2014) and Paddington 2 (2017), and the voice of Red in the Ukrainian dub of The Angry Birds Movie. Zelenskyy was also popular in Russia before 2014. After Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea, Kvartal 95 closed its office in Moscow and began shutting down business ties with Russia; Zelenskyy himself stopped working in Russia by the end of 2014. In August 2014, Zelenskyy spoke out against the intention of the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture to ban Russian artists from Ukraine. Since 2015, Ukraine has blacklisted some Russian artists and media deemed part of "information warfare", such as for "anti-Ukrainian rhetoric" or supporting the annexation of Crimea, and barred them from entering Ukraine. In 2018, Zelenskyy's Love in the Big City 2 was banned in Ukraine as it included a blacklisted Russian actor. Similarly, the sitcom Svaty co-produced by Zelenskyy was banned in Ukraine in 2017, after a Russian lead actor was blacklisted due to allegedly visiting occupied Crimea and supporting the annexation; In 2015, Zelenskyy began to co-produce and star in the television series Servant of the People, where he played the role of the president of Ukraine. 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 show ran for three seasons until Zelenskyy's own election as president. In 2016, while he was the artistic director of Kvartal 95, Zelenskyy co-presented the Teletriumph Awards, the national television awards of Ukraine, alongside Masha Efrosynina. Teletriumph 2016 was held at Freedom Hall and was not televised. Zelenskyy worked mostly in Russian-language productions. The romantic comedy Me. You. He. She, released in Ukraine in December 2018, was his first acting role in the Ukrainian language. The first version of the script was written in Ukrainian but was translated into Russian for the Lithuanian actress Agnė Grudytė. Later, the movie was dubbed into Ukrainian. Inter general producer (2010–2012) Zelenskyy was a member of the board and the general producer of the TV channel Inter from 2010 to 2012, == 2019 presidential campaign ==

, April 2019 In March 2018, members of Zelenskyy's production company Kvartal 95 registered a new political party called Servant of the People – the same name as the television program in which Zelenskyy had played the President of Ukraine for the previous three years. Although Zelenskyy denied any immediate plans to enter politics and said he had registered the party name only to prevent it being appropriated by others, His announcement aired during the traditional New Year's Eve address of incumbent president Petro Poroshenko on the same channel, Zelenskyy's presidential campaign against Poroshenko was almost entirely virtual. He did not release a detailed policy platform On 16 April 2019, a few days before the second round of the election, 20 Ukrainian news outlets called on Zelenskyy to "stop avoiding journalists". Zelenskyy stated that he was not hiding from journalists but that he did not want to go to talk shows where "people of the old power" were "just doing PR" and that he did not have time to satisfy all interview requests. The third season of Servant of the People started and ended during the 2019 campaign. Atlantic Council member Anders Aslund said Zelenskyy was not a populist; however, other scholars have analysed Zelenskyy's politics in the framework of populism. For instance, political scientist Volodymyr Kulyk described Zelenskyy as practising "inclusionary" populism that claims to defend "the people" against "the elite" while defining "the people" in a way inclusive of all ethnic, linguistic, religious, and other groups. Scholar Kostiantyn Yanchenko described Zelenskyy's campaign as characterized by "populist hyperreality" constructed by the Servant of the People series and Zelenskyy's other comedy shows, and argued along with fellow scholar Mattia Zulianello that Zelenskyy and his party were examples of "valence populism" focused on "non-positional topics, such as anti-corruption appeals, political transparency and moral integrity", rather than "economic and socio-cultural issues". Before the elections, Zelenskyy presented a team that included former finance minister Oleksandr Danylyuk and others. a billionaire businessman who had gained control of the 1+1 Media Group in 2010. The group operates eight Ukrainian TV channels and broadcast Servant of the People from 2015 to 2019. Poroshenko and his supporters argued that Zelenskyy's victory would benefit Russia. On 19 April 2019 at Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex presidential debates were held in the form of a show. In his introductory speech, Zelenskyy acknowledged that in 2014 he voted for Poroshenko, but "I was mistaken. We were mistaken. We voted for one Poroshenko, but received another. The first appears when there are video cameras, the other Petro sends Medvedchuk privietiki (greetings) to Moscow." Zelenskyy stated that as president he would develop the economy and attract investment to Ukraine through "a restart of the judicial system" and restoring confidence in the state. He also proposed a tax amnesty and a 5-per-cent flat tax for big business which could be increased "in dialogue with them and if everyone agrees". In the second round, on 21 April 2019, he received 73 percent of the vote to Poroshenko's 25 percent in the biggest landslide victory in Ukrainian presidential elections Polish president Andrzej Duda was one of the first European leaders to congratulate Zelenskyy. French president Emmanuel Macron received Zelenskyy at the Élysée Palace in Paris on 12 April 2019. On 22 April, U.S. president Donald Trump congratulated Zelenskyy on his victory over the telephone. 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. == Presidency ==

at the Federal Chancellery Complex in Berlin, June 2019 in New York City on 25 September 2019 in Zhytomyr, October 2019 after a meeting with then-prime minister Boris Johnson in October 2020 Inauguration Zelenskyy was inaugurated on 20 May 2019. Various foreign officials attended the ceremony in Ukraine's parliament (Verkhovna Rada), including Salome Zourabichvili (Georgia), Kersti Kaljulaid (Estonia), Raimonds Vējonis (Latvia), Dalia Grybauskaitė (Lithuania), János Áder (Hungary), Maroš Šefčovič (EU), and Rick Perry (United States). Zelenskyy is the first Jewish president of Ukraine; with Volodymyr Groysman as prime minister, Ukraine became the first country other than Israel to simultaneously have a Jewish head of state and head of government. One of the parliamentary coalition members, the People's Front, opposed the move and withdrew from the ruling coalition shortly before Zelenskyy's inauguration. On 28 May, Zelenskyy restored the Ukrainian citizenship of Mikheil Saakashvili. Zelenskyy's first major proposal to change the electoral system from a plurality voting system to proportional representation with closed party lists was strongly rejected by the Ukrainian parliament, who believed that closed lists would lead to more corruption in government. Zelenskyy had earlier called for the introduction of open list election ballots, such as during his inauguration speech, In June 2019 it was announced that the president's third major initiative, which seeks to remove immunity from lawmakers, diplomats and judges, would be submitted after the July 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election. This initiative was completed on 3 September, when the new parliament passed a bill stripping lawmakers of legal immunity, delivering Zelenskyy a legislative victory by fulfilling one of his key campaign promises. On 8 July, Zelenskyy ordered the cancellation of the annual Kyiv Independence Day Parade on Maidan Nezalezhnosti, citing costs. Despite this, Zelenskyy highlighted that the day would "honor heroes" on Independence Day, however, the "format will be new." He also proposed to spend the money that would have been used to finance the parade on veterans. In 2020, Zelenskyy's party proposed reforms to Ukraine's media laws with the intent to increase competition and loosen the dominance of Ukrainian oligarchs on television and radio broadcasters. Critics said it risked increasing media censorship in Ukraine because its clause of criminal responsibility for the distribution of disinformation could be abused. In January 2020, Zelenskyy took a trip to Oman that was not published on his official schedule, appearing to combine a personal holiday with government business. His office said Zelenskyy paid for the entire trip himself. Nevertheless, he was criticized for a lack of transparency and critics pointed out he had once criticized his predecessor Poroshenko for taking an undisclosed vacation in the Maldives. In January 2021, parliament passed a bill updating and reforming Ukraine's referendum laws, which Ukraine's Constitutional Court had declared unconstitutional in 2018. Fixing the referendum law had been one of Zelenskyy's campaign promises. The bill was passed into law in September 2021. Critics of Zelenskyy's administration have claimed that, in taking power away from the Ukrainian oligarchs, he has sought to centralize authority and strengthen his position. In October 2021, the Pandora Papers revealed that Zelenskyy, his chief aide, and the head of the Security Service of Ukraine Ivan Bakanov operated a network of offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands, Cyprus, and Belize. These companies included some that owned expensive London property. Around the time of his 2019 election, Zelenskyy handed his shares in a key offshore company over to Serhiy Shefir, but the two men appear to have arranged for Zelenskyy's family to continue receiving the money from these companies. The same month, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention announced that they had found no signs of conflicts of interest, illicit enrichment, or unjustified assets after investigating Zelenskyy's businesses, Cabinets and administration Zelenskyy appointed Andriy Bohdan as head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine. Before this, Bohdan had been the lawyer of Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi. Under the rules of lustration in Ukraine, introduced in 2014 following Euromaidan, Bohdan is not entitled to hold any state office until 2024 (because of his government post during the Second Azarov Government). A number of the members of the Presidential Administration Zelenskyy appointed were former colleagues from his former production company, Kvartal 95, Former deputy foreign minister Olena Zerkal declined an appointment as deputy head of the presidential administration, but did agree to serve as the Ukrainian representative of the international courts concerning Russia. Zelenskyy's requests to replace the foreign minister, defence minister, chief prosecutor and head of Ukraine's security service were rejected by parliament. Zelenskyy also dismissed and replaced 20 of the governors of Ukraine's 24 oblasts. Honcharuk government 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 percent of the party-list vote. His party gained 254 of the 424 seats. Following the elections, Zelenskyy nominated Oleksiy Honcharuk as prime minister, who was quickly confirmed by parliament. Parliament also confirmed Andrii Zahorodniuk as defence minister, Vadym Prystaiko as foreign minister and Bakanov as head of the SBU. Arsen Avakov, a controversial figure dogged by longstanding corruption allegations, was kept on as interior minister, with Honcharuk arguing that the relatively inexperienced government needed experienced administrators and that Avakov had been "'drawn red lines' that cannot be crossed." Zelenskyy dismissed Bohdan as head of his presidential administration on 11 February 2020 and appointed Andriy Yermak as his successor the same day. Shmyhal government In March 2020, Honchurak resigned as prime minister following the leak of an audio recording in which he appeared to belittle Zelenskyy's economic management. Honchurak was replaced as prime minister Denys Shmyhal. Honchurak's hasty departure caused disquiet both in Ukraine and abroad, with many economists and political observers warning it would bring instability. In his 4 March address to the Rada, Zelenskyy recommitted to reforms domestic and financial, and remarked that he "cannot always become a psychologist for people, a crisis manager for someone, a collector who requires honestly earned money, and a nanny of the ministry in charge." By September 2020, Zelenskyy's approval ratings had fallen to less than 32 percent. on 16 October 2020 On 24 March 2021, Zelenskyy signed Decree 117/2021 approving the "strategy for de-occupation and reintegration of the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol." By October 2021, Zelenskyy's approval rating had fallen further to 24.7%, but was still above or on par with most of his predecessors' at the same point in their presidencies. On 3 June, Zelenskyy appointed former president Leonid Kuchma as Ukraine's representative in the Tripartite Contact Group for a settlement in the conflict. 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 EU. The two leaders also discussed the exchange of prisoners held by both sides. The agreement failed to ease the conflict, as the separatists continued their attacks and Russia continued providing them with weapons and ammunition. Several Ukrainian nationalist militias and former militias also refused to accept the agreement, including the far-right Azov fighters in the Luhansk region of Donbas. Zelenskyy met personally with some of these groups and tried to convince them to surrender their unregistered weapons and accept the peace accord. Andriy Biletsky, the leader of the far-right National Corps and first commander of Azov, accused Zelenskyy of being disrespectful to army veterans and of acting on behalf of the Kremlin by leaving Ukrainians vulnerable to Russian aggression. Ultimately, the peace deal failed to reduce the violence, much less end the war. In July 2020, Zelenskyy announced a formal ceasefire with the separatiststhe more than twentieth such attempt since the war began in 2014. 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 percent compared to the previous year. UIA Flight 752 On 8 January 2020, the Presidential Office announced that Volodymyr Zelenskyy was cutting short his trip to Oman owing to the Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 plane crash in nearby Iran the same day. Also on the same day, internet news site Obozrevatel.com released information that on 7 January 2020, Ukrainian politician of the Opposition Platform — For Life Medvedchuk – who has exclusive relations with the current president of Russia – may have arrived in Oman. Soon, rumors began that Zelenskyy may have had some additional meetings beside the ones that were announced. On 14 January 2020, Yermak dismissed the rumors as speculations and baseless conspiracy theories, while Medvedchuk stated that the plane was used by his older daughter's family to fly from Oman to Moscow. Later, Yermak contacted the on-line newspaper Ukrainian Truth and gave more details about the visit to Oman and the plane crash in Iran. , Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, on 15 February 2021 On 17 January 2020, the presidential appointee Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prystaiko, was unable to give answers during the "times of questions to the government" in parliament when the people's deputies of Ukraine asked him about the visit's official agenda, the invitation from Oman, officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who were preparing the visit, as well as how the president actually crossed the border while visiting Oman. On 20 January 2020, Prystaiko followed up by giving a briefing to the press in the Office of the president of Ukraine and saying that he would explain everything about the visit when the time came. Foreign relations 's president Ilham Aliyev, 17 December 2019 , 24 January 2020 , Moldovan president Maia Sandu and European Council president Charles Michel, 19 July 2021 , 1 September 2021 Zelenskyy's first official trip abroad as president was to Brussels in June 2019, where he met with EU and NATO officials. In August 2019, Zelenskyy promised to lift the moratorium on exhuming Polish mass graves in Ukraine after the previous Ukrainian government banned the Polish side from carrying out any exhumations of Polish victims of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army-perpetrated Volhynian massacres, following the removal of a memorial to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army in Hruszowice, southeastern Poland. In September 2019, it was reported that U.S. president Trump had allegedly blocked payment of a congressionally mandated $400-million military aid package to Ukraine to pressure Zelenskyy during a July phone call between the two presidents to investigate alleged wrongdoing by Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, who took a board seat on Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma Holdings. This report was the catalyst for the Trump–Ukraine scandal and the impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump. Zelenskyy has denied that he was pressured by Trump and declared that "he does not want to interfere in a foreign election." On a trip to the United States in September 2021, Zelenskyy engaged in talks and commitments with U.S. president Joe Biden, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. President Zelenskyy and First Lady Olena Zelenska also took part in the opening of the Ukrainian House in Washington, D.C. and with Ukrainians in senior positions at Silicon Valley tech companies, and spoke at Stanford University. While Zelenskyy was still in the U.S., just after delivering a speech at the United Nations, an assassination attempt was made in Ukraine on Serhiy Shefir, his closest aide. Shefir was unhurt in the attack, although his driver was hospitalized with three bullet wounds. Russo-Ukrainian crisis (2021–2022) 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. On 26 November 2021, Zelenskyy accused Russia and Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov of backing a plan to overthrow his government. Russia denied any involvement in a coup plot and Akhmetov said in a statement that "the information made public by Volodymyr Zelenskiy about attempts to draw me into some kind of coup is an absolute lie. I am outraged by the spread of this lie, no matter what the president's motives are." In December 2021, Zelenskyy called for preemptive action against Russia. On 19 January 2022, Zelenskyy said in a video message that the country's citizens should not panic and appealed to the media to be "methods of mass information and not mass hysteria." On 28 January, Zelenskyy called on the West not to create a "panic" in his country over a potential Russian invasion, adding that constant warnings of an "imminent" threat of invasion are putting the economy of Ukraine at risk. Zelenskyy said that "we do not see a bigger escalation" than in early 2021 when Russia's military build-up started. Zelenskyy and U.S. president Joe Biden disagreed on how imminent the threat was. On 19 February, as worries of a Russian invasion of Ukraine grew, Zelenskyy warned the Munich Security Conference that Western nations should abandon their "appeasement" attitude toward Moscow. "Ukraine has been granted security assurances in exchange for giving up the world's third-largest nuclear arsenal. We don't have any firearms. And there's no security... But we have a right to urge a transformation from an appeasement policy to one that ensures security and peace," he stated. In the early hours of 24 February, shortly before the start of the Russian invasion, Zelenskyy recorded an address to the citizens of both Ukraine and Russia. He disputed claims of the Russian government about the presence of neo-Nazis in the Ukrainian government and stated that he had no intention of attacking the Donbas region while highlighting his connections to the area. In part of the address, he spoke in Russian to the people of Russia, appealing to them to pressure their leadership to prevent war: The speech was widely described as "emotional" and "astonishing." Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022–present) chairman Ruslan Stefanchuk, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal after signing of the application for membership in the European Union during the war on 28 February 2022 , 13 March Phase 1: invasion of Ukraine 2022, 24 February – 7 April On the morning of 24 February, Putin announced that Russia was initiating a "special military operation" in the Donbas. Russian missiles struck a number of military targets in Ukraine, and Zelenskyy declared martial law. Zelenskyy also announced that diplomatic relations with Russia were being severed, effective immediately. Later in the day, he announced general mobilization. On 25 February, Zelenskyy said that despite Russia's claim that it was targeting only military sites, civilian sites were also being hit. 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. "They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state," he said. 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 Erdoğan urged Zelenskyy to evacuate to a safer location, and both offered assistance for such an effort. 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." including more than 90% in western and central Ukraine and more than 80% in Russian-speaking regions in eastern and southern Ukraine. A Pew Research Center poll found that 72% of Americans had confidence in Zelenskyy's handling of international affairs. Zelenskyy has gained worldwide recognition as the wartime leader of Ukraine during the Russian invasion; historian Andrew Roberts compared him to Winston Churchill. Harvard Political Review said that Zelenskyy "has harnessed the power of social media to become history's first truly online wartime leader, bypassing traditional gatekeepers as he uses the internet to reach out to the people." He has been described as a national hero or a "global hero" by many commentators, including publications such as The Hill, Deutsche Welle, and USA Today. BBC News and The Guardian have reported that his response to the invasion has received praise even from previous critics. During the invasion, Zelenskyy has been reportedly the target of more than a dozen assassination attempts; three were prevented by tips from Russian FSB employees who opposed the invasion. Two of those attempts were carried out by the Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary force, and the third by the Kadyrovites, the personal guard of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. While speaking about Ukrainian civilians who were killed by Russian forces, Zelenskyy said: On 7 March 2022, Czech president Miloš 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." , Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša and Deputy Prime Minister of Poland Jarosław Kaczyński, Kyiv, 15 March Zelenskyy has repeatedly called for direct talks with Putin, Zelenskyy said he was "99.9 percent sure" that Putin thought the Ukrainians would welcome the invading forces with "flowers and smiles." On 7 March 2022, as a condition for ending the invasion, the Kremlin demanded Ukraine's neutrality; recognition of Crimea, which had been annexed by Russia, as Russian territory; and recognition of the self-proclaimed separatist republics of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states. On 8 March, Zelenskyy expressed willingness to discuss Putin's demands. Zelenskyy said he is ready for dialogue, but "not for capitulation." He proposed a new collective security agreement for Ukraine with the United States, Turkey, France, Germany as an alternative to the country joining NATO. Zelenskyy's Servant of the People party said that Ukraine would not give up its claims on Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk. However, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine was considering giving the Russian language protected minority status. On 15 March 2022, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, together with Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala and Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša, visited Kyiv to meet with Zelenskyy in a display of support for Ukraine. On 16 March 2022, a deepfake appeared online of Zelenskyy calling on Ukrainian citizens to surrender to Russia. The attack was largely deemed to have failed at its intended goal. The video is considered to be the first use of deepfake technology in a global-scale disinformation attack. Zelenskyy has made an effort to rally the governments of Western nations to isolate Russia. He has made numerous addresses to the legislatures of the EU, UK, Poland, Australia, Canada, US, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Romania, and the Nordic countries. On 23 March, Zelenskyy was calling on Russians to emigrate from Russia so as not to finance the war in Ukraine with their taxes. In March 2022, Zelenskyy supported the suspension of 11 Ukrainian political parties with ties to Russia: the Socialist Party of Ukraine, Derzhava, Left Opposition, Nashi, Opposition Bloc, Opposition Platform — For Life, Party of Shariy, Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine, Union of Leftists, and the Volodymyr Saldo Bloc. The Communist Party of Ukraine, another pro-Russia party, had already been banned in 2015 because of its support to the Donbas separatists. Zelenskyy has also supported consolidating all TV news stations into a single 24-hour news broadcast run by the state of Ukraine during martial law. Phase 2: South-Eastern front 2022, 8 April – 5 September In April 2022, Zelenskyy criticized Germany's ties with Russia. In May 2022, Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian men of conscription age had a duty to remain in Ukraine. As Zelenskyy ordered a general military mobilization in February 2022, he also banned men aged 18 to 60 from leaving Ukraine. , 29 May Zelenskyy denounced suggestions by former US diplomat Henry Kissinger that Ukraine should cede control of Crimea and Donbas to Russia in exchange for peace. On 25 May 2022, he said that Ukraine would not agree to peace until Russia agreed to return Crimea and the Donbas region to Ukraine. However, he later said he did not believe that all the land seized by Russia since 2014, which includes Crimea, could be recaptured by force, saying that "If we decide to go that way, we will lose hundreds of thousands of people." On 3 May 2022, Zelenskyy accused Turkey of having "double standards" by welcoming Russian tourists while attempting to act as an intermediary between Russia and Ukraine to end the war. On 25 May 2022, Zelenskyy said that he was satisfied with China's policy of staying away from the conflict. In August 2022, he said China had the economic leverage to pressure Putin to end the war, adding, I'm sure that without the Chinese market for the Russian Federation, Russia would be feeling complete economic isolation. That's something that China can do – to limit the trade [with Russia] until the war is over. According to Zelenskyy, since the beginning of the invasion, Chinese President Xi Jinping had refused to speak with him. , Italian Prime Minister Draghi, German Chancellor Scholz and Romanian President Iohannis, Kyiv, 16 June On 30 May 2022, Zelenskyy criticized EU leaders for being too soft on Russia and asked, "Why can Russia still earn almost a billion euros a day by selling energy?" The study published by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) calculates that the EU paid Russia about €56 billion for fossil fuel deliveries in the three months following the start of Russia's invasion. ) visiting a school in Irpin in Bucha Raion on the occasion of Knowledge Day on 1 September 2022 On 20 June 2022, Zelenskyy addressed African Union (AU) representatives via videoconference. He invited African leaders to a virtual meeting, but only four of them attended. On 20 July 2022, South America's Mercosur trade bloc refused Zelenskyy's request to speak at the trade bloc's summit in Paraguay. Phase 3: counteroffensive and annexations 2022, 6 September – 31 December Speaking about the 2022 Russian mobilization, Zelenskyy called on Russians to not submit to "criminal mobilization", saying: "Russian commanders do not care about the lives of Russiansthey just need to replenish the empty spaces left" by killed and wounded Russian soldiers. 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. On 25 September 2022, Zelenskyy said that Putin's threats to use nuclear weapons "could be a reality." He added that Putin "wants to scare the whole world" with nuclear blackmail. He also said that Putin is aware that the "world will never forgive" a Russian nuclear strike. When asked what kind of relationship Ukrainians and Ukraine will have with Russia after the war, Zelenskyy replied that "They took too many people, too many lives. The society will not forgive them," adding that "It will be the choice of our society whether to talk to them, or not to talk at all, and for how many years, tens of years or more." On 21 December 2022, Zelenskyy visited the United States on his first foreign trip since the war began. He met with President Joe Biden and addressed Congress delivering his full speech in English. The United States announced they would supply Patriot missiles to Ukraine as had been requested. By 31 December the Battle of Soledar had been decided and on 16 January 2023 Russian forces secured control of the town. Phase 4: stalemate and shell hunger 2023, 1 January – 31 December in New York City on 20 September 2023 In early 2023, Zelenskyy signed a new law declaring that desertion, or "failure to report for duty without a valid reason," would result in up to 12 years in prison. Over a year later in late 2024, the Verkhovna Rada passed bills decriminalising soldiers' first instance of desertion or absence without leave if they returned to their duty station, and allowing these soldiers to return to military service. In May 2023, he visited the International Criminal Court in The Hague and said he would like to see Putin stand trial for war crimes committed during the war in Ukraine, including the crime of aggression. By 1 June the Battle of Bakhmut had been decided in Russia's favor. On 19 September 2023, in a speech to the UN General Assembly, Zelenskyy called on neutral countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia to abandon their neutrality and support Ukraine. In October 2023, after the Hroza missile attack, he criticized countries supporting Russia, saying "all those who help Russia circumvent sanctions are criminals." Phase 5: indecisive allies 2024, January–July On 8 February 2024 Zelenskyy decommissioned General Valery Zaluzhny as Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and promoted General Oleksandr Syrskyi in his stead. On 17 February Syrskyi declared he would hold Avdiivka no longer. On 25 June 2024 Zelenskyy decommissioned Lt. Gen. Yuriy Sodol, who had been promoted in February to Syrskyi's now-vacant position. He installed Brig. Gen. Andriy Hnatov to replace Sodol. Phase 6: Kursk incursion 2024, August–present and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in Paris on 7 December 2024 In April 2024, Zelenskyy signed a new mobilization law to increase the number of troops. He also signed into law a measure lowering Ukraine's army mobilization age from 27 to 25. In June 2024, Zelenskyy said that China's support for Russia would prolong the war in Ukraine. According to Zelenskyy, Russia used Chinese diplomats to undermine the Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland. In July 2024, Zelenskyy criticized Narendra Modi's meeting with Putin on the same day that Russian missile strikes hit the children's hospital Okhmatdyt in Kyiv, saying "It is a huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts to see the leader of the world's largest democracy hug the world's most bloody criminal in Moscow on such a day." On 30 August 2024, Zelenskyy decommissioned Lt Gen Mykola Oleshchuk, who had headed the Ukrainian Air Force since 2021, shortly after the death of F-16 pilot Col Oleksiy Mes during a Russian missile attack. Politician Maryana Bezuhla claimed the pilot's jet had been shot down by the friendly fire of an anti-aircraft missile, and the death is under investigation. Zelenskyy did not specify a reason for the dismissal, but said "we must...take care of all our warriors." In October 2024, Zelenskyy unveiled the Victory Plan for Ukraine. The plan included five points: one geopolitical, two military, one economic, and one related to national defense and safety. In December 2024, Zelenskyy resisted pressure from the Biden administration to lower the conscription age to 18 to replace Ukraine's battlefield losses. In February 2025, he said that Ukraine would introduce special military contracts for volunteers aged 18 to 24. On 4 September 2024, most of the Shmyhal Government cabinet tendered their resignations while Zelenskyy considered his reshuffle. 2025 United States Oval Office meeting In February 2025, Zelenskyy met with U.S. President Trump at the White House to discuss a proposed agreement which would give the United States the right to extract rare minerals from Ukrainian soil. The meeting soon turned into a heated exchange with Trump and Vice President JD Vance against Zelenskyy. The planned lunch, discussions, and signing were all cancelled and Zelenskyy was evicted from the White House. In the aftermath of the meeting, the Trump administration suspended the provision of intelligence and military aid to Ukraine for around a week. The provision of aid to Ukraine was resumed after Zelenskyy agreed to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire, contingent on Russian approval (as Russia rejected the proposal, the ceasefire did not actually materialize).