- Zelensky has been names Times ‘Person of the Year’ for his bravery
- Times said Zelensky’s success as a wartime leader has relied on the fact that courage is contagious
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has been named Time magazine‘s “Person of the Year” for 2022 for his tenacity and bravery in repelling the Russian invasion and motivating the Ukrainian people to be courageous.
“For proving that courage can be as contagious as fear, for stirring people and nations to come together in defense of freedom, for reminding the world of the fragility of democracy – and of peace – Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the spirit of Ukraine are Time’s 2022 Person of the Year,” said the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Edward Felsenthal.
“Zelensky really galvanized the world in a way we haven’t seen in decades,” Edward Felsenthal, Time’s editor-in-chief, said Wednesday of the wartime leader on NBC’s “Today” show. The “spirit of Ukraine,” “embodied by countless individuals inside and outside the country,” Felsenthal wrote, was also named Person of the Year.
The publication heaped accolades on Mr. Zelensky for turning down a request by the U.S. government to evacuate him and his family to a secure location in the early days of the invasion.
Instead, he chose to stay and fight alongside Ukrainians.
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“The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride,” the Ukrainian embassy in the UK quoted him as saying. “Ukrainians are proud of their president.”
Mr Felsenthal said the magazine’s decision to honour the 44-year-old Ukrainian president and “the spirit of Ukraine” was “the most clear-cut in memory.”
His decision to stay in the nation as war broke out despite having no prior military training, according to Time reporter Simon Shuster, says a lot about the man.
“Zelensky’s success as a wartime leader has relied on the fact that courage is contagious,” Shuster wrote. “It spread through Ukraine’s political leadership in the first days of the invasion, as everyone realized the President had stuck around.”
Zelensky’s biography didn’t contain many indicators of his readiness to stand and contend. He had never participated in military service or exhibited much interest in military matters.
He had just taken office as president in April 2019. His lifelong experience as a stage actor, an expert in improv comedy, and a producer in the film industry gave him the professional instincts he possessed.
