What to know about Ukraine's wartime president
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has emerged as a resolute and unifying wartime leader for his country during the first days of the Russian invasion, calmly delivering defiant speeches from his phone on the darkened streets of Kyiv.
The big picture: It's a role few could imagine Zelensky playing when he won the presidency in 2019, his closest qualification being playing a president on television.
Here's what to know about the actor-turned-leader:
- Zelensky, 44, was a comedian and actor before soundly defeating former President Petro Poroshenko with more than 70% of the vote in 2019.
- Zelensky had no prior political experience before becoming president and named his political party after the television sitcom on which he played a president, "Servant of the People."
- "Throughout my entire life, I’ve tried to do everything so Ukrainians smiled," Zelensky said during his inauguration speech, per Politico. "In the next five years, I will do everything so that you, Ukrainians, don’t cry."
- Three months after entering office, Zelensky, then 41, was thrust into the center of former President Trump's first impeachment inquiry after the U.S. withheld military aid to Ukraine to pressure Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden's son, Hunter.
- Zelensky's approval ratings dropped in the months leading up to Russia's invasion amid economic consequences from the pandemic and the war in Donbas persisted, Politico notes.
State of play: Now, the political neophyte is rallying his country as Russian military forces continue to press forward, outnumbering Ukraine in personnel and supplies.
- Zelensky has turned down an American offer to evacuate, saying "the fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride."
- "I'm here. We are not putting down any arms. We will protect our country, because our weapons are our truth," he said on Saturday, despite believing that he is Russia's "number one" target for capture or assassination.
The bottom line: "He has some shortcomings," a woman who would give only her first name, Ekaterina, told Politico of Zelensky.
- "[But] we must unite. I support him very much at this moment. Because he is the nation’s leader. In difficult times, we must support our country."
Go deeper: The latest on the Russia-Ukraine crisis
U.S. and allies agree to expel some Russian banks from SWIFT payments system
The European Union, United States and other Western nations on Saturday announced they would cut off a "certain number of Russian banks" from the SWIFT international payments system, and impose restrictions on Russia’s Central Bank.
Why it matters: The measures will effectively cut Russia out of the world's most important financial messaging system and undermine the Kremlin's ability to use its central bank reserves to blunt the impact of other sanctions.
- Ukrainian officials had demanded that Western allies cut Russia from SWIFT in response to the invasion and make the country a complete pariah.
- Some European allies like Germany and Italy had previously expressed concern that disconnecting Russian banks' access to SWIFT would cause collateral economic damage, but agreed to the step after public pressure and days of intensive meetings.
Details: France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Canada joined the decision to "ensure that these banks are disconnected from the international financial system and harm their ability to operate globally," according to the joint statement.
- The group also said they would impose "restrictive measures that will prevent the Russian Central Bank from deploying its international reserves in ways that undermine the impact of our sanctions."
- "We will paralyse the assets of Russia’s central bank," said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. "This will freeze its transactions. And it will make it impossible for the Central Bank to liquidate its assets."
The big picture: Biden and other allied leaders initially resisted calls to boot Russia from the network.
- "The sanctions we've imposed exceed SWIFT," Biden said on Thursday. "Let's have a conversation in another month or so to see if they're working."
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