Why Ukraine’s President wants to be more Charlie Chaplin than Churchill
THE SHOWMAN: THE INSIDE STORY OF THE INVASION THAT SHOOK THE WORLD AND MADE A LEADER OF VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY
On the morning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, new President, Volodymyr Zelensky, was in a motorcade bringing him into his capital, Kyiv. Calls and messages flooded in as the column of cars sped through the darkness on February 24, 2022. One of the first calls came from his friend, interior minister, Denys Monastyrsky.
For the past few days Monastyrsky had slept in his office waiting for signs of a Russian assault. now he had to tell the president that it had started.
What direction was the attack coming from?, asked Zelensky. ‘All of them,’ said Monastyrsky. All along Ukraine’s eastern and northern borders enemy forces were pounding Ukrainian positions. Russian jets swooped over the major cities, aiming to take out Ukraine’s air defences. there was a pause as Zelensky processed the information.
‘Beat them back,’ he said. It was a moment Monastyrsky would never forget.
this remarkable book is eyewitness journalism at its very best, a monumental biography that is as easy to read as a cartoon strip, offering history as it happens.
It would be hard to think of a more trustworthy guide than Simon Shuster: he has reported from Russia and Ukraine for 17 years. he is half-Russian, half-Ukrainian, and grew up speaking Russian, as did Zelensky.
he had unique access to the president — often travelling with him to the front, which Zelensky’s closest aides clearly got annoyed about — but also to his friends and enemies, advisers and colleagues.
this is far from being pure hagiography. Shuster is openminded about the more problematic aspects of Zelensky’s personality: his willingness to silence dissent, his unpreparedness on the eve of invasion despite the warnings of his military leaders, and his early failures as a peacemaker.
Opponents accused him of hypocrisy: as a comedian he had ruthlessly mocked government bigwigs for the way they lived in the palatial mansions in the gated community of Koncha-Zaspa in Kyiv.
‘Guys,’ he had said on stage, ‘how about we let some kids live in these residences.’ not so easy in the real world, and sure enough here was the reformer, who had promised to evict the politicians, coming home each night to his palatial mansion through an entrance guarded by a pair of life-sized stone lions.
ZelenSKy was a wellknown (and wealthy) film and tV writer and producer, later famously starring in Servant Of the People, a sitcom about how a jobbing comic becomes an anti-sleaze president of Ukraine.
It was a tirade from that show that birthed Zelensky’s career as a politician: ‘these motherf****** come to power and all they do is steal and talk s***. It’s the same s*** every time and nobody gives a f*** . . . ’, along with the idea of a new anticorruption party.
he later learned that his rooms in the presidential suite included a secret lift: its sole purpose, he was told, was to enable people to deliver bribes without being seen.
A past of comedy competitions meant he could communicate with the rest of the world in ready, vibrant language. While his generals try to keep Russia at bay in the field, the president is doing his best to keep the rest of the world onside.
In november 2022 Shuster was invited to join Zelensky on a trip to the southern city of Kherson, where Ukrainian relief forces, at an immense cost in lives, had clawed back control. It was an important moment in the Ukrainian counter-offensive.
In his nightly address to his people, the president said: ‘We will liberate
all our cities and villages, no matter how the occupiers plan to prolong their stay on Ukrainian soil. Ukraine will be free.’
Returning to Kyiv on the train, Shuster sat opposite Zelensky, who was looking at a paperback about World War II. But he doesn’t want comparisons with Winston Churchill. he would far prefer to be associated with other figures from the period, like George Orwell, one of his favourite writers, or Charlie Chaplin, the great comedian who mocked hitler at the height of the holocaust.
‘Charlie Chaplin used the weapon of information during the Second World War to fight fascism. there were these people, these artists . . .and their influence was often stronger than artillery.’
this was the pantheon where Zelensky wanted to be placed.
he loathes how the Soviet Union has cast a spell over its people. he was appalled that no one could see through it. ‘they wish us death, they want our children to die.’
Inevitably the story is not complete, nowhere near. But the man at the centre of it has used all his considerable skills to coax and inspire the leaders of the Western nations to see the war as their own. It is a diplomatic marathon that shows no signs of ending.
this magisterial, riveting book ends with Zelensky, the war leader of our time, delivering a rousing speech to a joint session of Congress in Washington.
Shuster, watching from the balcony, counts 13 standing ovations before he has to give up counting, they come so frequently.
Senators confess they have never seen a foreign leader given such a reception. Ukraine will win, he said, but the country needs help. ‘We stand, we fight and we will win because we are united — Ukraine, America and the entire free world.’
time will tell whether he is right.