As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says, when Russia invaded his country 100 days ago, no one expected him to survive the onslaught. World leaders advised him to leave.
“But they didn’t know us,” he said in a late-night video address in April, 50 days into the war. “And they didn’t know how brave we Ukrainians are, how much we value freedom.”
He might have been talking regarding himself. No one knew how the 44-year-old who had catapulted himself from the entertainment world to the presidency would respond to an invasion by the massive Russian army.
His response has been forceful, and very public. Zelenskyy has led his country in setting up an unexpectedly fierce resistance. Every night he calls Ukrainians to the fight with a video speech on social media. So far he has done 100, one for each day of conflict. They are nightly reminders that he has not fled and that the Ukraine has survived.
His voice, trained for his role as an actor, can be reassuring, a deep, confidential whisper as he looks directly into the camera. Or forceful, rising with outrage as he condemns the latest Russian atrocities and insists those responsible will be punished.
Over the days and weeks, a dark beard has appeared on his unshaven face. She has lost her youthful look. Dark circles following sleepless nights as Russian troops advanced on the capital, kyiv, gave way to a new determination as the invasion stalled.
Since the beginning of the war, he has dressed in various shades of military green, and most of the time he has appeared in a simple T-shirt. The impression he gives is clear: he is fresh out of the fight and regarding to return to it.
A skillful and tireless communicator, Zelenskyy has spoken via videoconference at the United Nations, the British Parliament, the United States Congress and some two dozen other parliaments around the world, as well as the Cannes Film Festival and at the Grammy Awards. Rarely, if ever, has a man without a tie addressed so many personalities. He has also given interviews to journalists and even held a press conference in the security of the kyiv metro.
But his late-night speeches have been his preferred channel for informing and inspiring his countrymen.
It usually begins with an exuberant greeting to Ukrainians in the style of “the free people of a brave country” or “the invincible people of our great country”. But it always ends with a defiant “Glory to Ukraine.”
He talks regarding the world leaders with whom he has dealt during the day and his efforts to get them to send him more and better weapons, so that they impose more restrictive sanctions on Russia.
He refers to the anger and pain of his fellow citizens for the devastation of the country, for the countless deaths. “My heart breaks with what Russia is doing to our people,” he said on March 16 following bombs from Moscow killed hundreds of people sheltering in a theater in Mariupol.
He acknowledges their bravery and says that he never tires of thanking all those who are fighting for the future of Ukraine. If the country did not fall in a matter of days as Moscow expected, it said on April 14, it was because millions of Ukrainians “made the most important decision of their lives: to fight.”
He has also tried to reach out to the Russian public, such as on April 1, when he switched from Ukrainian to Russian to urge his neighbors to keep their children away from war.
“We don’t need more deaths here,” he said. “Take care of your children so that they do not become villains, do not send them to the army. Do everything you can to keep them alive. At home”.
In his speech on Friday, on the 100th day of the war, Zelenskyy said that many words and figures are now associated with war, but “there are three words for which, following eight years, we have been fighting for 100 days: ‘peace’. , ‘victory’, ‘Ukraine’. Glory to Ukraine!”
Justifying the invasion that began on February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was saving the country from the “drug addicts and neo-Nazis” of the Zelenskyy government. Since then, he has ignored requests from his Ukrainian counterpart to meet.
In June 2019, shortly following Zelenskyy’s election, Putin was asked why he had not congratulated the new leader. In a condescending response, the Russian leader appeared to belittle the actor-turned-president.
“Well, it’s one thing to play someone and another thing to be someone,” Putin said. “The important thing is to have the courage and character to take responsibility. So far he has not shown that character.
For 100 nights, that character has been evident to the Ukrainians and to the world. And also for Putin.