Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was named the Person of the Year by the magazine Time. Since the end of February, Zelensky has been in charge of Ukraine to stop a full-scale invasion by Russia.
He has led Ukraine to victory in a string of battles that have slowed down Russia and given Ukraine back the land. During the conflict, the Ukrainian president, who used to play a president on TV, has spoken to the Ukrainian people often in a serious but hopeful way.
As the most important person in Ukraine, he has also pushed for NATO and the US to stop Russia’s aggression. The U.S. Supreme Court, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming), and Elon Musk, who was named Person of the Year last year, were also on the list of finalists.
Since 1927, the magazine has given its Person of the Year award to the most important person of the year.
When Russia invaded Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin hoped to take the country in three or four days. However, Ukrainian defenders who were inspired by Zelensky fought back harder than expected. War has been going on for nearly nine months.
Zelensky stayed in the country even though Russia attacked military and civilian targets, including Kyiv. In February, the Biden administration offered to send Zelensky away, but he turned them down and asked for more weapons.
He has asked the world many times to hold Russia accountable for the war crimes and human rights abuses that have been proven and to help Ukraine to stop Russia from moving forward.
Time talked to Zelensky about his time-fighting in Ukraine. Zelensky has rejected comparisons to Winston Churchill, who rallied the UK during World War II, by calling him an “imperialist.”
He would rather be associated with writers like George Orwell and Charlie Chaplin, who were against dictatorship and made fun of Adolf Hitler.
“During the Second World War, Charlie Chaplin used facts to fight fascism,” he said. “These artists helped society because they had a lot of fans, and their work was often more powerful than artillery.”
Throughout the fight, Zelensky disproved Russian claims that Russian soldiers killed people in Ukraine and freed them.
In the interview, he said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is just their latest attempt to take control of the country, but he wants it to be the last. He said, “I have not finished this great, important thing for our country.” No.
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