Since the start of the Russian invasion, Volodymyr Zelensky has imposed himself on our collective imagination as a hero. Could we expect that?
A few days before the war started, I was on assignment in the Donbass, and there were then very strong questions about the person of Volodymyr Zelensky, who appeared to be a peaceful interlocutor, ready to go to the discussion with the Russians. For part of Ukrainian society, there were serious doubts about its ability to face a large-scale Russian aggression. Then, within hours, on February 24, 2022, Volodymyr Zelensky had to choose between becoming the leader of a country at war or leaving. He took up the gauntlet, chose to resist, and this decision undoubtedly took him to a huge level. Nobody in Europe had had to make this type of choice since 1945. From this point of view, his attitude was a divine surprise for the Ukrainians. As to whether he is a hero or not, it is generally history that is responsible for deciding this type of question.
He was a very famous person, a funny, gritty and charming television character, a kind of improbable mix between Patrick Sébastien, Cyril Hanouna and Jean Dujardin.
What is your earliest memory of him?
I’ve been living in Kyiv, Ukraine since 2013. And I didn’t find out about him until the mid-2010s. sort of improbable mix between Patrick Sébastien, Cyril Hanouna and Jean Dujardin. But he only really piqued my interest towards the end of 2018. Ukraine was heading for an unexciting presidential election, with incumbent Petro Poroshenko and his competitor Yulia Tymoshenko. Polling institutes then began to test different personalities, including Volodymyr Zelensky, whose name began to come up more and more often. Then, on December 31, 2018, just before midnight, Zelensky officially announced his candidacy on television. This act, at that time, on a channel belonging to one of the three main oligarchs of the country, was not trivial.
Especially since Zelensky is then known for a very specific role…
He was very well known for his talk shows, his comedy shows, and then there was indeed the series “Servant of the People”, which presented him as a little history teacher who became president by accident. , which was a huge success. At the time, this program was broadcast on the “1+1” channel, on which he made this famous declaration of candidacy in 2018 and which happened to be the property of Ihor Kolomoiski, a powerful oligarch opposed to the Past President. At the start of 2019, we therefore find ourselves with a candidate, Zelensky, who made his career as an audiovisual producer, and therefore his fortune, through contracts signed with one of the richest and most influential men in the country. During the presidential campaign, this same television group will offer all its power to the candidate Zelensky. The series featuring him as president will even be broadcast in prime time a few weeks before the first round of the election!
He has a perfect command of the codes of modern communication but he has no defined political backbone.
Once elected, “Zelensky is a chameleon who colors himself with the aspirations of his fellow citizens rather than offering them a way”, you write. So he has no specific ideology?
It is indeed quite difficult to know what is his ideology and that of his movement. It clearly falls into the category of “catch-all” parties, which do not fit into the usual divisions. He is liberal, pro-business, attached to the role of “experts”, quite fascinated by Emmanuel Macron. He also has a perfect command of the codes of modern communication, but he has no defined political backbone. However, as a young country and a former Soviet satellite, Ukraine is not defined by a classic left-right divide as we understand it. The cleavage in Ukraine is rather between supporters of a rapprochement with Western values and those who are more reluctant.
Like many Ukrainians, he was forced to position himself in the face of Russian aggression, adopting a very strong patriotic posture in a few hours.
“Russian-speaking, imbued with Russian culture, Volodymyr Zelensky, at 44, is today the symbol of the Ukrainian rocker”, you write…
Born in 1978, he embodies a generation which is Ukrainian “by passport”, grew up in an independent country, speaks Russian in the family and in its professional relations, has spent part of its career in Russia and does not feel particularly nationalist. Then, like many Ukrainians, he was forced to position himself in the face of Russian aggression, adopting in a few hours a very strong patriotic posture. I would say that, from the events of Maidan, in 2014, Russian-speaking Ukrainians rallied around the idea of a pro-European Ukraine. But today, the rejuvenation of the population further amplifies this movement. These young people, like Zelensky, were not adults during the Soviet period and feel deeply Ukrainian.
One gets the impression that all of these elements contribute to placing Zelensky at the heart of contemporary Ukrainian history…
He finds himself at a decisive moment in Ukrainian history, thirty years after independence, eight years after the Maidan revolution, the annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of war in the Donbass. This is a historic moment, when Ukraine must decide on its future for the generations to come, which is taking shape very clearly – through the elections as well as the opinion polls – under European outlines. And this while Vladimir Putin seems for his part to have decided to definitively “settle” the Ukrainian question by bringing it back into the Russian fold.
Zelensky is a hero only because Ukrainians themselves are heroes
What can become of Zelensky and his country, whose destinies are now irretrievably linked?
It’s very difficult to position yourself. But there are two scenarios: the first is that of the Kremlin, which aims to destroy Ukraine as a state, as a nation. In this case, Zelensky, who has already escaped at least two assassination attempts, would disappear. The second scenario would be that of a Ukrainian counter-attack and, why not, of a military victory. He therefore has two destinies in front of him: to be a hero or a martyr. Although, for me, Zelensky is a hero only because the Ukrainians themselves are heroes. Because there are people in Ukraine who are ready to put their ideas before their personal comfort, who are ready to defend the future of their country and that of their children, even if it means endangering their physical integrity.
“Volodymyr Zelensky, in the head of a hero”, by Régis Genté and Stéphane Siohan, Robert Laffont editions, 198 pages, €19.90
letelegramme Fr Trans