Three years after the political novice Volodymyr Zelensky was elected to Ukraine's highest office, he found himself catapulted into the role of war-time leader. The former comedian has become the public face of his country's courageous and bloody struggle against a brutal invasion.
Born to Jewish parents in central Ukraine, Zelensky campaigned for the presidency in the 2019 election on the promise to restore trust in politics. After his landslide victory, he told jubilant supporters 'I will never let you down.' Little did he know that he would be called upon to serve his people in the most demanding circumstances imaginable, fighting for the very survival of his country in the worst war on European soil since 1945.
Zelensky's leadership in the face of Russia's aggression is an inspiration to everyone who stands opposed to the appalling violence being unleashed on Ukraine.
This book tells his astonishing story.
Serhii Rudenko is a Ukrainian journalist and political commentator based in Kyiv. He was born in 1971 in the village of Stetskovka, in the Sumy region of Ukraine, and he studied journalism at Kyiv State University. Since 2015 he has been Editor-in-Chief of the TV channel Espreso.tv, which emerged from the Maidan movement in 2014. He also has a weekly column on Deutsche
Welle’s Ukrainian programme. He has published several highly regarded books on Ukrainian politicians. His book on Zelensky was first published in Ukraine in 2020 and it has been revised and updated for publication in English and other languages.