Volodymyr Zelensky’s improbable rise from comedian to wartime leader of a defiant nation

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• Judy Woodruff:

  The face of Ukrainian opposition to the Russian invasion has been their president, as we have seen tonight, Volodymyr Zelensky. His defiant vows to stay and fight have lifted a nation fighting for its freedom.

  John Yang details Zelensky's improbable rise from comedian to president and now to becoming the man of the moment.

• Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukrainian President (through translator):

  Good morning to all Ukrainians. Here's the situation: I'm still here.

• John Yang:

  Soon after Russia invaded Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky, unshaven, in a shaky selfie posted to Twitter, rallied a nation suddenly at war.

• Volodymyr Zelensky (through translator):

  We will protect our country. That's what I wanted to tell you. Glory to Ukraine.

• John Yang:

  The 44-year-old comedian-turned-politician vowed to stay in the capital city of Kyiv.

• Volodymyr Zelensky (through translator):

  Your president is here. Our troops are here. Our citizens are here. All of us are here protecting the independence of our country.

  John Yang It seemed straight out of a movie, just like his defiant response to a U.S. offer of evacuation: "I need ammunition, not a ride."

  Wearing a flak jacket, Zelensky walks the streets and visits troops. He displays a mix of courage, humor and grace under pressure that has drawn comparisons to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill during World War II and galvanized support at home and around the world.

  Yulia Kocabiyik, Ukrainian National Living in Turkey (through translator): Whatever happens, our president, President Zelensky, will never sell us out. He will not give Ukraine to Putin.

• John Yang:

  Melinda Haring, deputy director of the Eurasia Center at the Atlantic Council:

• Melinda Haring, Eurasia Center, Atlantic Council:

  He has inspired his country, he's inspired the world with his stiff upper lip and his physical courage. He's not hiding in a bunker. He's walking around making videos and telling people to remain firm.

• John Yang:

  It's something few would have predicted just weeks ago, amid Zelensky's lackluster approval ratings in Ukraine.

  Adrian Karatnycky, a contributing editor to "American Purpose" magazine":

  Adrian Karatnycky, "American Purpose": Before this thing he was, he was losing support, and there was some chances and they might not be reelected. And in this crisis, of course, he's just blossomed.

• John Yang:

  Before this, many Americans only knew Zelensky as an unwitting figure in President Donald Trump's first impeachment, the man Trump asked for a favor, digging up dirt on the Bidens, when Zelensky asked for defensive weapons.

  In Ukraine, Zelensky first became known as a comic. The peak of his fame came when he starred in a 2015 satirical TV sitcom called "Servant of the People" His role? A schoolteacher-turned-accidental-president.

  In 2019, life imitated art, when he ran for president for real, a fresh face for voters tired of corrupt leaders. His populist platform included the promise of peace with Russia, which had annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and backed pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine's Donbass region.

  Melinda Haring of the Atlantic Council:

• Melinda Haring:

  He wanted to do three things. He wanted to end the war in the Donbass, he wanted to end Ukraine's endemic corruption problem, and he wanted to make Ukraine rich. Ukraine is the poorest country in Europe.

• John Yang:

  During the campaign, "NewsHour" special correspondent Simon Ostrovsky visited Zelensky on the set of his show.

• Simon Ostrovsky:

  You're an actor with no political experience. Your country is at war with Russia, Vladimir Putin, 20 years at the helm. How are you going to deal with Vladimir Putin?

• Volodymyr Zelensky (through translator):

  First of all, we will do everything to make sure that Vladimir Putin never ends up at the helm of our country. The main problem in our relationship with Russia is the war. No one has a real answer, how to stop Putin. All we can do is continue talks to achieve a cease-fire.

• John Yang:

  But after Zelensky's landslide victory over incumbent Petro Poroshenko, a billionaire businessman, that cease-fire never materialized.

  As a native Russian speaker leading a state historically divided between the Ukrainian-speaking west and the Russian-speaking east, Zelensky's critics were skeptical of his peace efforts, suspecting he was a Putin puppet. In recent years, he pushed for closer ties with the West and promoted Ukraine's aspirations to join NATO and the European Union.

  As the White House sounded alarms about a Russian invasion, Zelensky initially played down the threat. Ukrainian opinion leaders worried that he was out of his depth. But once the fighting began, he rallied his nation, not despite his unusual background, some say, but precisely because of it.

• Analyst Adrian Karatnycky:

• Adrian Karatnycky:

  When he was a performer, he understood and he could feel the audience and his reaction and what works.

  And I think he has very good antennae for feeling the public mood. And in this case, those antennae are actually helping him channel the spirit of resistance and the spirit of the Ukrainian people. It's a really remarkable thing.

• John Yang:

  Zelensky's life's work had been to make his fellow Ukrainians laugh. Now he's embraced an unlikely new role: the wartime leader of a defiant nation.

  For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm John Yang.