Financial Times named Zelensky Person of the Year

The influential British publication Financial Times named the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky Person of the Year.

They reported this on their Twitter account.

The publication says Zelensky has become "his extraordinary display of leadership and fortitude."

The Financial Times reporters that wrote a piece on this occasion state that Ukraine surprised the world when it managed to fight off the russian forces in the Kyiv region and have its recent successes in the Kharkiv and Kherson regions. And Ukrainians continue to fight for their sovereignty and liberate the territories captured by the russian forces since February 24.

Zelensky's strong and brave position to stay in Kyiv and not evacuate from Ukraine when the US offered him was also a surprise for western partners and a reason for admiration. However, the Ukrainian president doesn't consider himself brave. He said to FT: "I am more responsible than brave… I just hate to let people down."

"Along the way, he has become a standard bearer for liberal democracy in the wider global contest with authoritarianism that could define the course of the 21st century.

Zelenskyy has also come to embody the courage and resilience of the Ukrainian people in their fight against Russian aggression. It is for these reasons that the Financial Times has chosen Zelenskyy as the person of the year," the Financial Times stated.

Reference

The British business newspaper Financial Times each year nominates a Person of the Year to the person the newspaper has considered has demonstrated considerable influence in a given year. There appear to have been several instances (1971, 1979, 1995) when no person was nominated.

Last year, the FT named billionaire Elon Musk its Person of the Year because "the controversial Tesla chief executive has triggered a historic shift in the auto industry towards electric vehicles."