In unlikely wartime role, Zelenskyy gives Ukrainians hope

By LYNN BERRY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Western leaders feared for the life of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a year ago and the U.S. offered him an escape route as Russian forces bore down on Ukraine’s capital. But Zelenskyy declined and declared his intent to stay and defend Ukraine’s independence. Zelenskyy has inspired Ukrainians to fight and given them hope from the outset of the war when few expected Ukraine’s army to hold up. Zelenskyy was just 41 when he was elected president in 2019 largely on the promise that he would be the kind of corruption-fighting president he had played in a popular television show. But it is as a wartime leader that Zelenskyy has found his moment.