10 Fascinating Facts You May Not Know About the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky

As annual media traditions go, Time magazine’s “person of the year” announcement is one of the most important ones in our civilized society. This year, there must have been many candidates, but one of them stood out head and torso above the rest — the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, and the spirit of Ukraine.

As the magazine notes, Zelensky’s vision of victory goes beyond the liberation of Ukrainian territory from Russian occupiers. According to him, Russia’s full-scale invasion this year is just another attempt to conquer Ukraine. There’s a long history of russia waging genocidal wars, causing famine, and repressing millions of Ukrainians in the past 300 years.

While you can go ahead and read the Times article when you get the chance, there are some interesting facts about Zelensky that didn’t make it to the magazine pages.

1. Since childhood, Volodymyr had a rather low voice, which made him feel inadequate among his peers. But later, Zelensky realized that he should treat it as a blessing as it made him stand out among other stage performers.

2. As a schoolboy, Zelensky dreamed of becoming a diplomat and was even preparing to study in Moscow, but instead, he received a law degree in Kryvyi Rih. Before becoming president, Volodymyr had never used his law degree except for the two mandatory months of practice.

3. Zelensky started his stand-up career when he was 16 years old. Of course, he didn’t do solo acts back then, as the comedy club shows were team-based competitions in CIS countries.

4. Speaking of teams, the now-legendary “95th District,” where Zelensky debuted, was created in 1997. From 1999 to 2003, the team of comedians played in the Higher League of the aforementioned comedy club. At that time, the players practically lived in Moscow and constantly toured the post-soviet countries. In 2003, the comedy club higher-ups had a big problem with Zelenskyy’s team, but he was offered to stay as a writer and editor. Naturally, Zelenskyy refused and came back to Ukraine with his team.