Europe | A celebrity with power

An interview with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky

The former comedian is clobbering oligarchs but ducking serious reform

|KYIV

“I STILL DON’T feel comfortable here,” says Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, as he walks briskly into an opulent presidential meeting room. A former comedian in a hit TV series, “Servant of the People”, that tells the story of a humble schoolteacher who accidentally becomes president, he is still, it seems, more used to a studio than a palace.

This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “The comedian gets serious”

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