Culture Society, Identity and Belonging
This is a thorough biography exploring Volodymyr Zelensky’s journey from comedian into war-time leader. Having spent time with Zelensky over a few years, Shuster paints a portrait of a stubborn, occasionally naïve man, often sensitive to criticism, who took the role without understanding what it required.
After coming to power promising peace, Zelensky was thrown into the biggest European war since WWII. Shuster shows that he was warned many times by his own military and Western allies, but was convinced it would never happen. While praising Zelensky’s charisma, courage and boldness, Shuster is merciless on his unprofessionalism.
He seems uncertain if this is a good man who wanted to serve his country, a profane comedian who didn’t know what he was getting into, or a determined politician wanting to stare Putin down. In the end, Shuster becomes a wary fan, describing the president as a “bulldog” and hoping the power will not spoil him by turning the wartime leader of a democratic country into an autocrat.
There is some work for fact checkers in this book: the TV channel owned by former president Petro Poroshenko was never the nation’s “top broadcaster”. Shuster is also confusing about the Azov regiment, lambasting Russian state TV for describing it as “a band of satanists and neo-Nazis”, but then himself calling its early members “far-right and neo-Nazi”.
There is also no mention of a Zelensky trip to Oman where, as Ukrainian investigative journalists have revealed, he may have Russian officials. In the context of the war, this is significant enough to require inclusion.
Last spring, Shuster was awarded the Order of Merit (third class) – along with other journalists, including Christiane Amanpour – by Zelensky. Did this colour his attitude to the president? One hopes not.