Kyiv, Ukraine – Russian tanks were moving over the border, and Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, was in a grip of fear and panic. Street fighting erupted and a Russian armored column stormed the city, two miles from President Vladimir Zelensky’s office.
In these tense first days of the war, almost everyone – Russian President Vladimir Putin, military analysts and many Western officials – expected the Ukrainian leadership to disintegrate. Instead, Mr Zelensky decided to stay in the capital in person, taking selfies while touring Kyiv to reassure his people. And he ordered his top aides, many cabinet members and much of his government to stay put, despite the risks.
This was a crystallizing moment for Mr Zelenski’s government, ensuring that a wide range of agencies continue to work effectively and in sync. Leading politicians have put aside the sharp clashes that have shaped Ukrainian politics for decades and instead created a largely united front that continues today.
No high-ranking official escaped or fled, and the bureaucracy quickly shifted to the military.
“In the first days of the war, everyone was in shock and everyone was thinking about what to do – stay in Kyiv or evacuate,” said Sergei Nikiforov, a spokesman for Zelensky. “The president’s decision was for no one to go anywhere. We stay in Kyiv and fight. That cements it. “
For much of the world, Mr Zelenski is best known for appearing in a video link with a daily message of courage and challenge to unite his people and persuade his allies to provide weapons, money and moral support. On Sunday, he again drew the world’s attention to a meeting in Kyiv with two senior US officials, Secretary of State Anthony J. Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, who promised more military support and – in a symbolic move – said the United States would begin reopening its embassy in Kyiv.
But behind the scenes, Mr Zelenski’s success so far is also rooted in the government’s ability to work smoothly and take action to help people cope, such as overall deregulation to sustain the economy and provide basic goods and services.
By loosening the rules for transporting goods, for example, the government managed to cope with the terrible risk of food shortages in Kyiv, the capital, in the early days of the war. And in March, he reduced business taxes to 2 percent – and only if the owner wanted to pay.
“Pay if you can, but if you can’t, no questions will be asked,” Zelenski said at the time.
Even more controversial, he combines six television stations that previously competed against each other into one news channel. The merger, he said, is necessary for national security, but has disappointed political opponents and defenders of free speech.
He also made a truce with his main domestic opponent, former President Petro Poroshenko, with whom he had feud until the start of the war.
The huge wartime effect of rallying around the flag has undoubtedly eased Mr Zelensky’s work, said Vladimir Ermolenko, editor-in-chief of Ukraine World, a political magazine. “What is special about Ukrainian politics is that the agency comes from society, not political leaders,” he said. “Zelensky is what is due to the Ukrainian people behind him, showing courage.
He added that “this is not to undermine his efforts” and credited Mr Zelenski with adapting his populist, pre-war policy to an effective leadership style at the heart of the conflict.
These days, Mr. Zelenski’s workplace on Bankova Street is a quiet, darkened space crowded with soldiers; there are firing positions in the corridors and stairwells, protected by sandbags. “We were ready to fight right in this building,” Mr Nikiforov said.
A former comedian, the Ukrainian leader has surrounded himself with a group of loyal people from his days on television, relationships that in the past sparked accusations of friendship but served him well during the conflict, keeping his leadership team on the same page. And Mr. Zelenski has structured his days in a way that works for him.
Mr Zelenski received individual telephone briefings from General Valery Zaluzhny, commander of the armed forces, several times a day and often in the morning, aides and advisers said.
This was followed by a morning video conference with the prime minister, sometimes with other cabinet members and heads of military and intelligence services in a format that combines military and civilian decision-making, according to Mr Nikiforov, his spokesman.
Of course, Mr Zelenski’s video addresses – to the US Congress, to the British Parliament, to the Israeli Knesset and other governments – remain the defining and most effective element of his wartime role. The Ukrainian and Russian armies are still fighting fierce battles in the eastern plains, but in the information war Kyiv clearly won.
Delivered with passion by a former actor with a keen sense of storytelling and drama, Mr Zelenski’s speeches brought together his compatriots and stimulated international support.
Some are advertised and others are more scripted. Mr Litvin, a 38-year-old former journalist and political analyst, reportedly served as author of Mr Zelenski’s speeches. Mr Nikiforov, the spokesman, confirmed that the president was collaborating with a writer, but declined to say with whom.
Politically, Mr Zelenski took some early steps that allowed him to reduce any internal struggles that could be weakened by military efforts.
Among them was the troubled rapprochement with Mr Poroshenko, who has sharply criticized Mr Zelensky after losing to him in the 2019 elections. under house arrest for various politically colored cases.
But on the day Russia invaded, the two leaders reached an understanding. “I met with Mr. Zelensky, we shook hands,” Mr Poroshenko said in March. “We said we started from scratch, he can count on my support, because now we have an enemy. And the name of this enemy is Putin. “
Mr Zelenski outlawed another major opposition faction, a political party geared towards Russia.
It helped that Mr Zelenski’s political party, the Servant of the People, won a majority of seats in parliament in 2019, which allowed him to appoint a cabinet of loyalists before the war. Past Ukrainian governments have been divided between warring presidents and opposition-controlled cabinets.
“Not on paper, but it’s really a big team,” said Igor Novikov, a former foreign policy adviser. “It’s very closely related.”
Timofiy Milovanov, a former economy minister and now an economic adviser in the president’s office, likened Ukraine’s policy to “battles of relatives.”
“It’s a family fight,” he said. “But family comes first.”
The inner circle consists mainly of veterans of the media, film and comedy industries with an origin similar to that of Mr Zelenski.
The war between Russia and Ukraine: Key developments
Map 1 of 3
A bolder American position. Speaking after a risky and secret visit to Kyiv, Defense Minister Lloyd J. Austin III said the United States wanted Russia to be “weakened” and unable to rebuild its army from its many losses in Ukraine, reflecting a bolder approach by the Biden administration.
On the ground. Russia fired a barrage of missiles at at least five railway stations in central and western Ukraine, hours after a visit by Mr. Austin and Secretary of State Anthony J. Blinken. The strikes were part of a wider attack aimed at crippling critical infrastructure in Ukraine.
Diplomatic changes. President Biden has nominated Bridget Brink, the current US ambassador to Slovakia, as ambassador to Ukraine, a position that will remain vacant for more than a year. The move comes when Mr Blinken said US diplomats would begin returning to the country next week.
Andriy Ermak, chief of staff and former film producer, is widely regarded as Ukraine’s second most powerful politician, although his constitutional successor is Parliament Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk, who was evacuated to western Ukraine at the start of the war. Mr Ermak is in charge of foreign and economic policy.
Other key advisers include Mikhail Podolyak, a former journalist and editor who is negotiating with the Russians; Sergei Shefir, former screenwriter, now domestic political adviser; and Kirill Tymoshenko, a former videographer who now monitors humanitarian aid.
The High Military Command consists of officers, including General Zaluzhny, with experience in fighting Russia during the eight years of conflict in eastern Ukraine.
In the first days of the war, Zelenski set three priorities for his government’s ministries, according to Mr Milovanov: supplying weapons, supplying food and other goods, and maintaining the supply of petrol and diesel. Ministries were told to rewrite the regulations to ensure fast delivery on all three tracks.
This was perhaps most useful in the frantic rush in the beginning to deliver food to Kyiv, which was at risk of being besieged and starving.
As the supply chain was disrupted, the president’s office brokered an agreement between grocery chains, truck companies and volunteer drivers to create a single truck service that supplies all grocery stores. The shops would publish a request on the website and any available driver would fulfill the order either for free or for the price of petrol.
Perhaps Zelenski’s most controversial move was to unite the six television newsrooms into one channel with one report. The group missed the main opposition television, Channel 5, linked to Mr Poroshenko.
Mr. Zelenski positions this move as necessary for national security. Opponents watched him …
Add Comment