New Delhi
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was named Time magazineâs Person of the Year on Wednesday for leading his country during the ongoing conflict with Russia. Zelensky has achieved global fame for his role in Ukraineâs defence against Russia and in the past year, he has become a massive global figure for his speeches and appearances at major summits and events around the world. Zelensky was previously a comedian and actor before becoming President back in 2019.
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The other personalities and entities in the running along with Zelensky were United States Supreme Court, politician Liz Cheney and last yearâs winner â Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in February earlier this year, Zelensky was offered asylum by multiple countries, but he decided to stay back. He has been appearing for daily addresses to the nation and although he has been compared to former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, he denied it completely during an interview with TIME magazine, citing Churchillâs reputation as an imperialist.
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Zelensky said that he would want to be associated with comedian Charlie Chaplin who criticised Adolf Hitler during World War II and author George Orwell who âwrote against authoritarianismâ.
âIâve raised the example of Charlie Chaplin, how he used the weapon of information during the Second World War to fight against fascism,â he said. âYou see, there were these artists who helped society, because they had a lot of admirers, and their influence was often stronger than artillery.â