Ukraine President Zelenskyy's wild life – from Paddington role and comedian to war hero
dailystar.co.ukchannelling Winston Churchill in a rousing address to the House of Commons.The emotional 44-year-old said: “We will fight for our land whatever the cost.
We will fight in the forests, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets.” His inspiring wartime speech - where he also echoed William Shakespeare - left MPs in tears after he told them 50 children had been killed since Russia invaded Ukraine last month.
Signing off the historic address, he said: “Glory to Ukraine. Glory to Great Britain.”But who exactly is Volodymyr Zelenskyy?And how did he go from playing a president in a TV comedy just three years ago to now leading Ukraine for real in a deadly conflict with Russia?Zelenskyy was born to Jewish parents in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih.At the time, the country was part of the Soviet Union and Zelenksyy grew up speaking Russian.His grandfather, Semen Ivanovych Zelensky, fought and survived WWII.And his great-grandfather and three of his grandfather’s brothers died because of a Nazi invasion of Ukraine.And Zelenskyy himself said in 2019: “Today I am at the grave of my grandfather Semen Ivanovych Zelensky.
He went through the war and remained forever in my memory as one of those heroes who defended Ukraine from the Nazis.“It is a pity that we so rarely remember veterans, our grandparents.
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