Volodimir Zelensky is TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year

By Dana Malcom

Staff Writer

December 8, 2022 – A person, idea or object that has done the most to influence the events of the year, for better or for worse is what TIME magazine’s Person of the Year issue features every December, this year in video footage shared by TIME along with the article, that person is dressed in a nondescript green parka; surrounded by taller men as he is you could almost miss him.

The only one without a helmet or vest in his party, he makes his way over to a group of people waiting for him, phones in hand and draped in Ukrainian flags, with smiles they reach for him and with a tearful smile he pushes through his bodyguards and reaches back.

Volodimir Zelensky,  President of Ukraine along with what TIME is describing The Spirit of Ukraine, have been designated TIME’s Person of the Year 2022.

They  join the likes of Elon Musk, Greta Thunberg, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. The list is as it said, for better or worse.

Like them Zelensky has become somewhat of a household name as has Ukraine; unlike them he has seen his country laid to ruin in the last 10 months. Between 6,000 and 32,000 of his civilian constituents have been killed; millions more have fled as the country does its best to hold off Russian advances.

The president told TIME reporter Simon Shuster how the long rides between suffering areas in Ukraine on his small train are the only times he gets to read and when he does he reads about other wartime leaders, comedians and authors.

Zelensky, is a former comedian himself and this year, he has been to a lot of places.

From EU conferences to the Oscars all virtually of course, the world has been exposed to his face and his speeches. Back in May he was featured alongside Mia Mottley, Joe Roegan, Joe Biden and Ketanji Brown Jackson as one of the most influential politicians of the year in Times 100.

Also included in that list, Vladimir Putin the man leading the charge against Ukraine who has repeatedly referred to Zelensky as a “Nazi.”

Putin has not quite succeeded in convincing his own people of Zelinsky’s dangerousness.  Russians continue to protest the war and Russian mothers organize anti-war meetings.

TIME said he was recognized “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.”

The Ukrainian president, lauded for his bravery, has become a symbol of hope for Ukranians and worldwide, evidenced by the award.

There’s no telling how long the war will drag on and how long the country leader will have to hold his post, but countries like Canada, Britain and the US have sworn to back him for as long as it takes.