President Zelensky turns 45: how and what he's changed during his presidency
Photo: AFP
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky celebrates his birthday on January 25. The head of state turned 45 years old, Rubryka reports.
Volodymyr Zelensky won the presidential election in 2019. He became the youngest president in the history of Ukraine.
Before the presidency, Volodymyr Zelensky was the artistic director and owner of the Kvartal 95 Studio. He is a lawyer by profession.
In the second round of the elections, he defeated the previous president, Petro Poroshenko, with 73.22% of the vote. Poroshenko received 24.45%.
- "Citizens are tired of experienced, systemic, arrogant politicians, who in 28 years have created a country of opportunities. Opportunities for corruption and scams. We will build a country of other opportunities where everyone is equal before the law and where there are fair and transparent rules of the game. One for all," Zelensky said during his inaugural speech in May 2019.
Extraordinary parliamentary elections and monomajority
The next day he dissolved the Verkhovna Rada of the 8th convocation and canceled 161 decrees of his predecessors. Then he renamed the Presidential Administration to Office.
Zelensky made his first foreign visit to Belgium. He met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and officials of the European Union in Brussels.
The following month, Zelensky's Servant of the People party won the extraordinary parliamentary elections, receiving 43.16% of the vote. A mono-majority of 254 people's deputies from this party was created in the parliament.
In autumn, Zelensky opened the Higher Anti-Corruption Court. He dismissed Oleksandr Danyliuk from the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council post and appointed Oleksii Danilov.
He held the longest press conference, which lasted more than 14 hours.
At the end of the year, Zelensky met in Paris with the president of the aggressor country, russia, vladimir putin, the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel.
Then they talked about a complete ceasefire in Donbas under round-the-clock monitoring by the mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the exchange of prisoners "all for all."
Three years later, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine will publish statistics: russia has never adhered to ceasefire agreements during the nine years of the war.
Reforms
Zelensky called the beginning of land and infrastructure development reform the year's main achievement.
He signed the law on the circulation of agricultural land, which was one of the conditions for continued cooperation with the International Monetary Fund.
The Big Construction program was launched, and 6,583 km of roads were built and repaired during the year.
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the now-dismissed deputy head of the Office of the President, coordinated the program.
Ukraine also launched a mobile application and web portal, Diia, where Ukrainians can get services online.
Sanctions against Medvedchuk and deoligarchization
At the beginning of 2021, Zelensky introduced sanctions against the anti-Ukrainian TV channels of People's Deputies from the Opposition Platform – For Life Taras Kozak and Viktor Medvedchuk.
The National Security and Defense Council also imposed sanctions against Medvedchuk and his wife, Oksana Marchenko.
In the summer, the president submitted to the parliament a draft law, "On prevention of threats to national security associated with the excessive influence of persons who have significant economic or political weight in public life," on de-oligarchization.
The law was adopted, and Zelensky signed it. The United States of America introducing sanctions against the oligarch Ihor Kolomoiskyi preceded this.
The land market started working in the summer.
In July, the president appointed Valerii Zaluzhnyi as the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
In the fall, Ukraine and the European Union signed an agreement "On a single aviation space," which is also called "aviation visa-free" or "open skies" with the EU. The deal was prepared for many years.
Zelensky also met with US President Joseph Biden in Washington for the first time.
Heroic resistance to full-scale russian aggression and help of allies
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On February 24, 2022, around five in the morning, putin announced the start of an offensive against Ukraine. The russian federation launched a full-scale armed aggression. The enemy attacked from the territory of the russian federation, belarus, and the temporarily occupied Crimea.
In the morning, Zelensky announced the introduction of martial law. The Verkhovna Rada introduced it.
"We are working. The army and the entire security and defense sectors are working. Don't panic. We are strong; we will defeat everyone because we are Ukraine. Glory to Ukraine," the president said in a video address to Ukrainians.
On February 28, the president signed the application for Ukraine's membership in the European Union. On June 23, Ukraine received the status of a candidate for EU membership. The decision was taken by all 27 member countries of the bloc.
In April, Zelensky announced the detention of oligarch Medvedchuk. Subsequently, the people's deputy, suspected of treason and facilitating the activities of a terrorist organization, was handed over to the russians during the release of 215 Ukrainian defenders from russian captivity. And this year, Medvedchuk was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship and mandate.
In autumn, the court banned the activities of several pro-russian parties, in particular, OPZZh and the Opposition Bloc.
In December, the National Security Council introduced and Zelensky approved sanctions against several representatives of the russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine. Sanctions were introduced against Metropolitan Pavel Lebed and former People's Deputy Vadym Novinskyi. The SBU conducted counterintelligence measures.
The president made his first trip abroad since February 24 to the USA and met with Biden. On the same day, the American president signed new military aid, which included the Patriot missile defense system.
Tanks, armored personnel carriers, and 8th Ramstein
The beginning of 2023 was marked by the decision of foreign partners to transfer tanks to Ukraine and resignations.
Polish President Andrzej Duda said that Leopard 2 tanks would be delivered to Ukraine within the international coalition. French President Emmanuel Macron announced the transfer of AMX-10 RC heavy armored personnel carriers. The USA announced the Bradley and Stryker combat vehicles. And Great Britain will transfer a squadron of Challenger 2 tanks.
The Ukraine defense contact group's eighth meeting took place in Germany at the American Ramstein Air Base.
"We managed to strengthen our artillery fist significantly. Very heavily, both with guns and shells," Zelensky said.
This month, five deputy ministers, the deputy head of the Office of the President, the deputy prosecutor general, and five heads of regional state administrations left their positions. Corruption scandals accompanied some resignations.
Before that, the president announced the decision.
"Of course, now the main focus is on issues of defense, foreign policy, and war. But this does not mean that I do not see and hear what is being said in society at various levels," he said.
