A former aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the one-time comedian has matured during his three years as president, becoming the best leader Ukraine could ask for.
Zelenskyy was elected to office in April of 2019.
The president has had to deal with a lot of crazies during his short time in office according to Iuliia Mendel, a Ukrainian journalist who served as press secretary for Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy's term has been not that easy of a presidency to have, from the Donald Trump-Ukraine scandal to the coronaviruses epidemic.
Zelenskyy's role as a wartime president has earned him international praise and nearly-unanimous confidence from Ukrainians at home.
Zelenskyy was best known for his role as an entertainer. He played the Ukrainian president on TV and had a winning stint on Dancing with the Stars.
Zelenskyy was relatively inexperienced in politics at the start of his presidency, despite having a law degree from the National Economic University in 2000.
President Zelenskyy tried to open social elevators to give more space for talent from different spheres in the government of Ukraine, which was a pretty new and different approach.
Zelenskyy held a competition to find his press secretary. She beat out 4,000 other contestants to become the president's primary spokesman.
Zelenskyy and his team had a lot of misunderstanding of politics at the beginning, according to Mendel.
Zelenskyy has no political experience. One of them was Sergey Osyka, a 57-year-old father who fled his home in the first week of the war.
In an interview with Insider that was translated by his son, Sergey said he didn't vote for Zelenskyy, who was 41 when he was elected.
Sergey wondered what he had to offer to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy won the election but his approval ratings were not as high as they were before Russia invaded. Zelenskyy's job was approved by only 31% of Ukrainians in December of 2021, according to national polling.
Zelenskyy had perseverance despite low approval ratings and crises.
He is the person who never gives up. She said that when it is not clear how to proceed, he will say let's start from the beginning.
The president was tested when Russian forces invaded Ukraine in the early hours of February 24. With missiles hitting the capital, Zelenskyy stayed put, even as he said Russia had marked him as "enemy number one."
He said in an address on the first day of war that he would stay in the capital.
He has not left the country since.
He was not afraid. No one would accuse him if he escaped.
By March, Zelenskyy's approval ratings had soared to over 90 percent, as he won over skeptical Ukrainians in the wake of the invasion.
Sergey told Insider that he had been to the president before the war as he noticed that there were no reports of Zelenskyy engaging in corruption, an issue that has plagued the country since it gained independence in 1991.
Zelenskyy's handling of the war has left Sergey with a new sense of pride. The shows of resistance have been displayed by Ukrainian civilians, soldiers, and public officials.
Sergey admitted that he did not vote for Zelenskyy, but said that the fact that the society is united is the result of his work and influence.
Zelenskyy's decision to remain in Ukraine, and the resolve it may have inspired in many Ukrainians, has likely had a significant impact on the war, according to Daniel Treisman, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The war may have been different if Zelenskyy had run away, according to Insider last month.
There would have been strong resistance to the invasion if Zelenskyy had fled the country, but it likely wouldn't have been as coordinated.
Sergey joked that citizens of other countries may be jealous that Zelenskyy is their president.
He said that they felt about him the way the whole Western society felt about him.
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