As Russian forces rushed towards the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on 24 February 2022, the comedian-turned president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky surprised the world.
“When you attack us you will see our faces – not our backs,” he said in a direct address to Vladimir Putin, making clear his nation would not back down in the face of invasion. When Mr Zelensky appeared later, he was wearing military fatigues, clothes he has worn ever since.
It was the beginning of a David versus Goliath story, not just for Mr Zelensky but for Ukraine. He was standing up to strongmen.
Fast forward three years and Mr Zelensky is facing what is proving to be a far more difficult task: appeasing a strongman. The same refusal to bow down that earned Mr Zelensky a standing ovation in the US Congress in December 2022 is what has earned him a very public dressing down under Donald Trump.
The US leader, with the help of vice president JD Vance, berated Mr Zelensky in front of cameras in the White House last week. They told the wartime president he was ungrateful and rude, and then they kicked him out of the White House. It was a stunning turn of events from a supposed ally.
Denmark’s foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, whose country has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest European allies as well as the UK, said the spat and the cut in military aid is “a punch in the gut for Ukraine.”
“There must be room for robust conversations - even between friends,” he added. “But when it happens in front of rolling cameras like that, there is only one winner. And he sits in the Kremlin."
After a few days, Mr Zelensky bowed to the pressure from Mr Trump and called the clash "regrettable". The Ukrainian leader said that he was ready to work under the US president's leadership to bring lasting peace, and that it was "time to make things right".
So what has taken Mr Zelensky on an extraordinary path from TV comedian to president, from wartime hero to the latest target of the notoriously bullish American president’s ire?
Born in January 1978 to Jewish parents, Volodymyr Zelensky’s father was a computer scientist, his mother an engineer. He grew up in the Russian-speaking, industrial central city of Kryvyi Rih.
He made his name on a Russian comedy talent show before setting up his own company and moving into TV shows and films.
His breakthrough success came in 2015 on a show called Servant of the People. In it, Mr Zelensky played Vasyl Holoborodko, a self-effacing high-school teacher, who is filmed by a student unleashing a profanity-filled rant against Ukraine's political class.
Holoborodko becomes a viral sensation and, despite not really running, an election campaign would land him the presidency.
The show was a hit, giving viewers a chance to laugh and dream about reforming the country in the wake of the protests that led to the ousting of Viktor Yanukovych the previous year.
Mr Zelensky would go on to name a political party after his show and ride a wave of dissatisfaction with the status quo to high office. He used his inexperience to his advantage, with less of a concrete set of policies or a track record to be attacked than his rivals.
He said that he was aware the people wanted “something new, they want to get a person with a human face”. He relied less on official speeches and rallies and more on videos via social media.
It would win the then 41-year-old 73 per cent of the vote in the second round of the presidential vote.
Fresh poll:
— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) March 7, 2025
Zelensky currently has a 67% support rating in Ukraine.
That's an increase from 52% in December. pic.twitter.com/tOuzKbhFp4
Controversy quickly followed. In July 2019, Zelensky was anxious for a meeting with Mr Trump at the White House, one of the Ukrainian leader’s top foreign policy priorities at the time.
During a 30-minute call, Mr Trump dangled the possibility of a face-to-face meeting. But he also suggested that future U.S. military support for Ukraine might be contingent on its leader helping investigate business dealings there by Hunter Biden, the then-former vice president Joe Biden’s son.
Mr Biden was competing for the Democratic presidential nomination, and Mr Trump seemed to want to weaken him 15 months out from election day. The Republican denied wrongdoing and began referring to his exchange with Mr Zelenskyy as a “perfect” phone call. Even Mr Zelensky later insisted that he faced “no blackmail.”
But Mr Trump was impeached by the Democratic-controlled House in December 2019 on abuse of power and obstruction of justice charges, only the third American commander in chief to be in that situation. He was acquitted by the Senate.
Fast forward to 2022 and Mr Zelensky’s ratings are declining. Then came the war.
When he refused to leave the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv during the first days of the invasion, he earned a comparison to Winston Churchill.
He began doing nightly addresses and his polling went up dramatically.
In April 2022, a now-iconic photo of him visiting the site of recently-liberated Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv, showed the up-to-then stoic leader breaking down at the horror of the war crimes committed there, where Russian forces had killed hundreds of civilians.
The following year, he would court controversy for the alleged sacking of Ukrainian military chief Valery Zaluzhnyi, who is now Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK.
Some viewed it as a political decision aimed at Ukraine’s most popular figure at a time when Mr Zelensky’s figures were declining yet again.
Kyiv mayor Vitality Klitschko even described Mr Zelensky as having “autocratic tendencies”.
But on the global stage, the Ukrainian leader was feted by everyone from prime ministers to kings.
Former British prime minister Boris Johnson was a vocal supporter during the early days of the war, describing Mr Zelensky as a “hero” who “everybody loves”. Current prime minister Keir Starmer has been just as fulsome in his praise, and European leaders welcomed Mr Zelensky with open arms during a summit this week.
In an address to Congress, former US president Joe Biden said Mr Zelensky was “inspiring the world”. King Charles III has hosted Mr Zelensky on two separate occasions, most recently this year when he offered the Ukrainian leader a warm reception in his private Sandringham residence.
As the war ground on Mr Zelensky continued to enjoy widespread from leaders of the western world, willing to support the war against Russia, politically and financially.
Then, Mr Trump returned to the White House and brought his characteristic brand of chaos with him. Since the disastrous White House meeting he has continued to make more difficult for Zelensky and Ukraine. He has suspended military aid and paused intelligence sharing, both of which will severely hamper Kyiv’s ability to push back against Mr Putin’s invasion.
He has gone as far as calling for elections to be held in Ukraine and his aids have reportedly met with Mr Zelensky’s political rivals.
A senior Ukrainian sergeant told The Independent he has been shocked by Mr Trump’s moves, denying Kyiv weapons and information crucial to defending against Putin’s forces. He believes what happened in the White House was a premeditated attempt to humiliate Mr Zelensky.
Mr Trump has called Mr Zelensky a “dictator”, a reference to the pausing of elections in Ukraine under martial law, before falsely claiming that the Ukrainian leader enjoys only 4 per cent popularity in the polls. In reality, the most recent poll shows 67 per cent support. Mr Zelensky, in turn, accused Mr Trump of living in a “disinformation bubble” of Russian making. Their relationship continued to unravel from there.
The soldier, call sign “Bora”, said he believes Mr Putin has no desire for a permanent peace. Regardless of any ceasefire, he was sure the Russian dictator would not abandon his decision to eradicate Ukraine completely and argues Mr Trump needs to understand that, to understand Mr Zelensky’s anger.
“The world saw in the 20th century that Hitler wasn’t stopped by sanctions, diplomacy or peacekeeping attempts,” the senior soldier said. “ He was only stopped when it was grasped that this wasn’t a problem for just one country but a threat to the whole world. And only a total mobilisation of forces, and unrelenting support for allied forces stopped Nazism."
Ironically, it was Mr Trump’s “dictator” comment that united Ukrainians behind Mr Zelensky again, with parliament voting fully in favour of the Ukrainian leader’s presidency. Citizens, many of them hardened by three years of war, rallied behind Zelensky in defiance but worried about the future of U.S. backing for Kyiv's war effort.
"The Americans don't know the real situation, what's going on here," said Ella Kazantseva, 54, across from a sea of flags in central Kyiv commemorating Ukraine's war dead. "They don't understand. Everything is beautiful for them."
And in the aftermath of the White House row, journalist Illia Ponomarenko wrote on X: “Zelensky could have just sat there in silence for 40 minutes without saying a word. The problem is, they [Trump and Vance] would have found a reason to get offended and start a brawl anyway. You simply can’t win with people who don’t actually want a standard, successful meeting.
“We can talk endlessly about Ze’s missteps and diplomatic setbacks, but the reality is—under any circumstances, he was always going to be called a beggar, a war gambler pushing the world toward WWIII, someone who doesn’t want peace, isn’t thankful enough, and, most importantly, someone standing between Trump and his sweet little deal with Putin—who has promised him oceans of gold in exchange for Ukraine.
In Kyiv, Mr Zelensky’s team is adamant that no matter how bad the situation seems with Mr Trump, the current Ukrainian leader is the best figure for the job.
“Us having Zelensky as a president on a global stage remains very beneficial because he is very clear and correct in talking about the position of Ukraine,” his senior advisor Mykhailo Podolyak told The Independent. “He always represents Ukrainian interests. He speaks correctly to all the leaders of our key partner countries.”
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