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The Morning

An unlikely hero.

We look at Volodymyr Zelensky’s rise.

By David Leonhardt

National heroes sometimes have humble political origins.

Abraham Lincoln was arguably the country’s least-qualified president — a former one-term member of Congress — at the time that he took office. Winston Churchill looked like a washed-up politician when Germany invaded Poland in 1939. And Volodymyr Zelensky did not seem like an international symbol of courage when Russia began threatening to invade Ukraine in recent months.

In today’s newsletter, I want to give you a brief profile of Zelensky, one that goes beyond the one or two sentences many people have heard about him in recent weeks. I’ll also link to some of the best profiles of him and podcasts about him, for anybody who wants more.

Below, you’ll also find the latest news from the war.

Benny Hill humor

By now, the basics of Zelensky’s background are well known: Before becoming Ukraine’s president, he had been a comedic actor whose best-known role was as a teacher who rose to Ukraine’s presidency thanks to a viral video.

That show, “Servant of the People,” was a cross between “The West Wing” and Monty Python. Zelensky himself has credited Benny Hill, the crude British comedian, as an influence. (You can watch a short excerpt from the show, with English voice overs .)

“As a film actor and sitcom star, Zelensky thrived in the role of the Everyman, often playing the average guy who wins over the beautiful woman seemingly beyond his reach,” Franklin Foer has written in The Atlantic.

Zelensky grew up in a fading and polluted industrial city, the son of an engineer and computer-science professor. He is Jewish, in a country with a brutal history of antisemitism, and his first language was Russian, as is the case for many Ukrainians.

He ran for president in 2019, with a charmingly populist campaign that evoked his character on “Servant of the People.” It helped that the billionaire owner of the network that broadcast the show promoted Zelensky’s candidacy, including with a documentary that aired on the eve of the election, comparing him to Ronald Reagan.

Elsewhere in Europe, many officials initially viewed Zelensky as unserious, as The New Yorker’s Joshua Yaffa has reported . “The impression was terrible,” one European diplomat said, referring to one early meeting.

The impression today is very different, of course. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Zelensky has become a Churchillian figure, the personal embodiment of his country’s refusal to yield to a murderous authoritarian.

Seeing through Putin

That image does have a lot in common with the optimistic and patriotic vision of Ukraine that Zelensky has presented since he began running for office.

His two central campaign promises were to crack down on corruption and to end the military conflict with Russia in the country’s eastern provinces. After taking office, he stripped members of Parliament of their legal immunity. He shrunk his own motorcade to two cars, without sirens. He told government officials to remove presidential portraits from their offices and replace them with pictures of their children, to remind them of the stakes of their work.

He also earnestly took to the job of president, acknowledging how little he knew. “He’s a very intent listener,” John Herbst, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, told Foer.

One early question that many Ukrainians had was what approach Zelensky would take to Russia. Some even worried that he might be too accommodating to Vladimir Putin, Anton Troianovski, The Times’s Moscow bureau chief, has noted. Zelensky not only grew up speaking Russian, but had become a star in Russia, thanks to his television shows.

“Zelensky came in as a candidate who promised to make a deal with Russia to end the war,” Anton said. Over time, though, Zelensky came to believe that Putin was not negotiating in good faith and wanted to dominate Ukraine. That belief pushed Zelensky closer to the West, angering Putin.

“In retrospect, now that we see what Putin really wants, total control over Ukraine, it is hard to see what Zelensky could’ve done,” Anton said.

Personal bravery

Since Russia invaded, Zelensky has remained in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, rallying the country through videotaped speeches. (Yesterday, Zelensky’s government posted photos of him visiting wounded soldiers at a hospital and awarding them medals.) He has done so even though Russian troops and spies are likely trying to kill him.

Anne Applebaum, a journalist and Ukraine expert, recently said on NPR that she thought Zelensky might never flee the country. “He’s an actor, and he understands that he has a role to play, and he will play the role,” Applebaum said. He knows that he represents his country, she added, and even if he wishes he had never run for president, he understands that he now symbolizes something larger than himself.

“Once you enter the role, you play it to the end,” she said. “You have a larger responsibility to the citizens and to your country’s image in the world.”

Related: Maureen Dowd writes that Zelensky has become “ the world’s greatest actor ” in a real-life struggle between good and evil.

State of the War

Russian forces hit Kyiv with heavy artillery strikes this morning after days of fighting in the suburbs. One projectile struck an apartment building.

Russia continued its assault on civilians, firing on a train evacuating people fleeing the Donetsk region. Russian forces also continued to attack residential buildings in Mariupol, where a humanitarian crisis is deepening.

“The entire sky was in flames”: A Russian attack 11 miles from the border with Poland hit a base where foreigners who had come to help Ukraine were believed to be training.

Russia asked China for military equipment and for financial assistance to protect its economy, U.S. officials say. A Chinese spokesman dismissed the claim.

Russian forces fatally shot Brent Renaud, an American journalist who was reporting outside Kyiv , Ukrainian officials said.

Russian and Ukrainian officials are holding virtual peace talks today .

More on Ukraine

How does this war end ? Putin has refused to engage in serious negotiations, leaving the West guessing.

Tens of thousands of Russians have fled to Istanbul since the invasion, outraged about what they see as a criminal war or concerned about their livelihoods back home.

Russia’s war could mean higher costs for plastic products , whose prices track those of oil.

Masha Gessen tells Ezra Klein that Putin sees himself in the lineage of rulers like Ivan the Terrible and Stalin.

Koch Industries appears to be continuing its business operations in Russia , Judd Legum of Popular Information reports.

THE LATEST NEWS

Moderna is expected to submit data this week on how well its vaccine works in children under 5 .

Barack Obama tested positive. He said he was “feeling fine.”

The Chinese cities of Shenzhen and Shanghai imposed new restrictions on millions of residents.

Unvaccinated M.L.B. players won’t be allowed into Canada to play against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Other Big Stories

A gunman targeting sleeping homeless people in New York City and Washington has shot five men, two of them fatally, the police said.

An Indian family of four froze to death yards from the border as they tried to cross into the U.S. from Canada.

Angry over blackouts and rising electricity bills, a small but growing number of Californians is going off the grid .

Tom Brady reversed his announced retirement, saying he would return to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for his 23rd N.F.L. season .

“The Power of the Dog” won best picture at the Critics Choice Awards. Here are the other winners .

“Father-God, may the attackers’ fingers freeze”: Tish Harrison Warren ’s readers offer their prayers for Ukraine .

North Korea’s latest missile tests are proof of Kim Jong-un’s ambition , Jean H. Lee argues.

Gail Collins and Bret Stephens discuss abortion and Andrew Cuomo .

MORNING READS

Pep talk: Grade schoolers give life advice on a new hotline .

Quiz time: The average score on our latest news quiz was 8.4. Can you beat it?

A Times classic: When a partner cheats .

Advice from Wirecutter: Try this no-fear virtual reality headset .

Lives Lived: William Hurt was a leading man in popular films of the 1980s, including “Body Heat” and “Broadcast News,” and won an Oscar for his role in the 1985 film “Kiss of The Spider Woman.” He died at 71 .

SPORTS AND IDEAS

March madness is here.

The N.C.A.A. basketball tournaments begin this week. You can see (and print) brackets for the men’s tournament and women’s tournament here. But first, a rundown of the No. 1 seeds:

The women: Three of the top seeds were also there last season, including Stanford , which won it all last year; N.C. State ; and South Carolina , whose defense is stifling thanks to the dominant forward Aliyah Boston. The only new No. 1 is Louisville , but just barely: It was a No. 2 seed last year, and a top seed before that.

Read about the rest of the field , including Connecticut and its quest to return to the top of the sport.

The men: Last year, Gonzaga had its perfect season spoiled when it lost the national championship game to Baylor . Both teams are among the tournament’s four top seeds this year, as is Kansas , led by its versatile star Ochai Agbaji. The surprise of the group? Arizona , which had not even made the tournament in recent seasons but found a spark with their new coach, a longtime Gonzaga assistant.

Read about the rest of the field , including Duke in what is Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s final season.

PLAY, WATCH, EAT

What to cook.

Garlic stans, rejoice: These noodles demand 20 cloves cooked in butter.

What to Watch

A reunion of college friends oscillates between comedy and psychological horror in “All My Friends Hate Me.”

What to Read

In Karen Joy Fowler’s novel“Booth,” readers get a window into the life of Lincoln’s killer.

Now Time to Play

The pangram from yesterday’s Spelling Bee was warlock . Here is today’s puzzle — or you can play online .

Here’s today’s Wordle . Here’s today’s Mini Crossword , and a clue: Great delight (four letters).

If you’re in the mood to play more, find all our games here .

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — David

P.S. Jazmine Ulloa of The Boston Globe and Alexandra Berzon of ProPublica have joined The Times’s Politics desk .

Here’s today’s front page .

“ The Daily ” is about how Russians see the war in Ukraine. “ Sway ” features Andrew Garfield.

Claire Moses, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Tom Wright-Piersanti, Ashley Wu and Sanam Yar contributed to The Morning. You can reach the team at [email protected] .

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox .

David Leonhardt writes The Morning, The Times’s flagship daily newsletter. He has previously been an Op-Ed columnist, Washington bureau chief, co-host of “The Argument” podcast, founding editor of The Upshot section and a staff writer for The Times Magazine. In 2011, he received the Pulitzer Prize for commentary. More about David Leonhardt

Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky: The comedian president who is rising to the moment

• Published 26 February 2022

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Zelensky's defiant response to invasion... in 100 seconds

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a comedian who had no experience of politics when elected less than three years ago, has suddenly emerged as a convincing war leader.

He has rallied the nation with his addresses and video selfies and given voice to Ukrainian anger and defiance of Russian aggression.

While Russian President Vladimir Putin has appeared increasingly erratic - accusing Ukraine of "genocide" in the breakaway Donetsk and Luhansk republics, and talking of the need to "de-Nazify" the country - President Zelensky, from a Russian-speaking Jewish family, has remained dignified, resolute and articulate.

These pronouncements have revealed a side that many critics - including a large chunk of the intelligentsia - had not seen coming.

A key moment in the transformation from a leader floundering in the polls, who sometimes appeared out of his depth, into a national figurehead came in the early hours of Thursday, a few hours before Russia's invasion. In a sober address posted on social media, speaking partly in Russian, he said he had tried to call Vladimir Putin to avert a war and had been met by silence.

The two countries didn't need a war, "not a Cold War, not a hot war, not a hybrid war", he said, wearing a dark suit as he stood in front of a map of Ukraine. But he added that if Ukrainians came under attack they would defend themselves. "When you attack us you will see our faces - not our backs, but our faces."

Soon afterwards the invasion began, and for his next broadcast, in the middle of the day, he wore military fatigues, reflecting the country's David-versus-Goliath struggle. That evening he made another address, warning Western leaders that if they did not provide assistance then tomorrow "war will knock on your doors".

"This is the sound of a new iron curtain, which has come down, and is cutting Russia off from the civilised world."

Zelensky as commander-in-chief appeared to strike all the right notes on Ukrainian Twitter.

Yulia McGuffie, editor-in-chief of the Novoye Vremya news website, says she was upset when he was elected president in April 2019, as she had no faith in his ability to lead a government.

But Ukrainians have rapidly warmed to their president in the past week, she says.

"Full support and respect came, I think after Russia started its war - all Ukrainians have closed ranks around Zelensky. He is playing a uniting and I would say inspiring role, partly by his own example. He is leading a government that is repelling Putin's army, and for that many sincerely admire and respect him."

• Follow our live blog for all the latest updates from Ukraine
• Why has Putin invaded Ukraine?
• Watch: How did Zelensky become president ?

Zelensky's arrival on the political scene was a case of life imitating art. His most celebrated role as a comic actor was in the TV series, Servant of the People, in which he played a school teacher catapulted into the presidency after a student posted a viral video of him ranting about corruption in politics.

His candidacy in the 2019 presidential election was initially seen by some as a joke - his political party is called the Servant of the People party. But he went on to win with 73% of the vote, promising to fight corruption and bring peace in the east of the country.

The Ukrainian president has significant powers, but delivering on these promises was always going to be tough, communications consultant Yaryna Klyuchkovska notes. And for someone starting a presidency with such a high approval rating, the only way was down.

"It's one thing to make such broad-ranging promises and another thing to execute these policies," she says.

Years before politics

• Born in the central city of Kryvyi Rih, east Ukraine, in 1978
• Graduated from Kyiv National Economic University with a law degree
• Co-founded a successful TV production company
• Produced shows for a network owned by controversial billionaire Ihor Kolomoisky
• Kolomoisky later backed his presidential bid
• Until the mid-2010s, his career in TV and films was his main focus

Zelensky had enjoyed the support of oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky during his presidential campaign, leading many to fear he would turn out to be a puppet leader, controlled by a man who is under investigation in the US for possible fraud and money-laundering.

He had in fact proved to be more independent than the sceptics thought, refusing for example to allow the re-privatisation of PrivatBank, which was owned by Kolomoisky before it was nationalised.

On the other hand corruption remains deep-rooted in Ukraine, and there are concerns that a new anti-oligarch law could be used to restrict the activities of some oligarchs and not others. Corruption charges aimed at Zelensky's main rival, Petro Poroshenko, his predecessor as president, are regarded by some Western officials as politically motivated.

Zelensky's attempts to negotiate with Russia in order to find a solution to the conflict in the east, which has left more than 14,000 people dead, also had only limited success. There were prisoner exchanges and moves towards implementing parts of a peace process, known as the Minsk agreements, but no breakthrough. Throughout 2020 his approval rating steadily fell.

Zelensky subsequently struck a more assertive tone in pushing for membership of the European Union and the Nato military alliance, a move that was bound to anger the Russian president.

But Yaryna Klyuchkovska says Zelensky's rhetoric on the conflict in the east and relations with Russia continued to be too timid for many Ukrainians, until recent days.

As the drumbeat of war grew louder he declared a Day of Peace, and continued to emphasise his hopes for a diplomatic solution even while Ukraine was reporting a rapid increase in ceasefire violations along the front line.

"He avoided the subject of war, warfare, anything military. It was a topic outside his comfort zone and he was not willing to go there in his public rhetoric," Klyuchkovska says.

He also took issue with the daily warnings from the US and other Western governments of an imminent Russian attack, saying that the US communication strategy was "very expensive for Ukraine".

The big change of tack came with a speech he made to the Munich Security Conference on Saturday 19 February, Klyuchkovska says, converting her too from a sceptic to a fan. He began by describing a visit to a kindergarten in the east of the country that had days earlier been hit by a missile.

"When a bomb crater appears in a school playground, children have a question: 'Has the world forgotten the mistakes of the 20th Century?'" he said.

"Indifference makes you an accomplice," he told the guests from the West's diplomatic and defence elites. He reminded them of Vladimir Putin's rejection of a US-led world order at the same conference exactly 15 years earlier, and his assertion of Russia's resurgence. "How did the world respond? With appeasement."

Klyuchkovska says no Ukrainian leader had spoken so bluntly to the West before.

"For me the moment of pride in Zelensky came during his brilliant speech at the security conference in Munich," says Yulia McGuffie. "It was then that many of Zelensky's political opponents in Ukraine decided that now is not the time for rows and conflicts."

Western intelligence claims that Zelensky's name is the first on a list of people Russian forces aim to kill. He says his family is second on the list, but that he and they remain in Ukraine.

His presence is confirmed by the video selfies he has been shooting outside the presidential administration and the very distinctive House of Chimeras opposite it, adorned with representations of exotic animals and hunting scenes.

In response to one of these, British writer Ben Judah tweeted : "If you'd told many of our great-grandparents in the Pale [the area of the Russian empire in which Jews were mostly confined] that a Jewish man would be a Ukrainian war leader against a Russian invasion they would have blinked incredulously."

"Of course, he is an actor. I don't know whether it's his true persona or not. But whatever he's doing, it's working," says Yaryna Klyuchkovska. "His speech writers have found their stride. They come from the entertainment business, but even writing a Netflix show is different from writing presidential speeches."

Ukraine still faces overwhelming odds. Russia's invasion force is huge and well-armed. But the 44-year-old law graduate, a political newbie, has found a voice that has helped to bolster Ukrainian morale.

"One of my good friends has just written, 'Zelensky has suddenly grown cojones of cosmic proportions'," says McGuffie. "And this really reflects the attitude to him right now."

Additional reporting by Kateryna Khinkulova

Russia attacks Ukraine: More coverage

• VISUAL GUIDE: Tracking the invasion in maps
• WATCH: Zelensky's defiant response
• NEXT MOVES: Our security correspondent on next moves
• PHOTOS: Ordinary lives turned upside down

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• Volodymyr Zelensky

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• Published 2 October 2019

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3 years ago Zelenskyy was a TV comedian. Now he’s standing up to Putin’s army.

Three years ago, he was playing a president in a popular television comedy. Today, he is Ukraine’s president, confronting Russia’s fearsome military might .

Volodymyr Zelenskyy is leading his country during an invasion that threatens to explode into the worst conflict in Europe’s post-World War II history.

On Friday, as Russian troops reached Kyiv , he posted a defiant handheld video to social media showing him next to the presidential palace in the heart of the Ukrainian capital, surrounded by members of his Cabinet. 

“We are all here,” he said. “We are defending our independence, our country.” 

The message capped a head-spinning transformation of a man whose job used to be making jokes on television into a wartime leader. Who is this man at the helm as Ukraine faces the gravest of challenges? 

Zelenskyy, 44, who was elected president in 2019, was educated as a lawyer, but found his true calling as an entertainer.

Married to Olena Zelenska, with whom he has two children, he was born in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih in the then-Soviet Union to Jewish parents. 

His family’s story tracks his homeland’s and the continent’s bloody history: He has said three of his grandfather’s brothers were killed by Nazi occupiers, while his grandfather survived WWII.

Raised during communism, Zelenskyy went into politics months before the 2019 election with no prior experience or solid policies. Instead, he ran on a promise to inject integrity into his country’s leadership.

Unlike many of his counterparts in the region, his past did not turn him into a dour politician in the Soviet mold. On the contrary, his public persona is encapsulated by one of his best-known quips: “You don’t need experience to be president. You just need to be a decent human being.”

As a product of the entertainment industry, he is known for his personable style and his ability to speak to people of all kinds. 

“He is quite empathetic as a person. He finds good connections with people,” said Orysia Lutsevych, a research fellow at the London think tank Chatham House. “That’s why he’s successful in politics.” 

A native Russian speaker, Zelenskyy used his charisma and immense popularity to win a landslide victory , supported by voters in Ukraine’s south and east — where millions of Russian-speaking Ukrainians felt disenfranchised by previous administrations. It is this alienation that Russia has tried to capitalize on by supporting separatists who have been fighting Ukrainian forces for eight years. 

This week’s invasion, which came after months of Russia massing troops on Ukraine’s borders and demands from President Vladimir Putin that NATO bar Ukraine from joining the military alliance, is not the first time Zelenskyy has been thrust into the spotlight. 

Just months into his presidency, a phone conversation in which then-President Donald Trump pressed him to investigate corruption allegations against Joe Biden garnered international attention. The scandal led to the first impeachment of Trump, who was acquitted in early 2020.

By this time, Zelenskyy had already disrupted the Ukrainian political system, bringing into the government people who wanted to modernize the country, Lutsevych said. 

He tried to rein in Ukraine’s rampant corruption and disrupt the existing pillars of power, but “didn’t muster enough political power to crack the bone of Ukrainian corruption within the system,” she added. 

At the same time, he’s been praised by many in Ukraine for keeping the country of 44 million firmly on a pro-Western path. Russia and Ukraine stayed aligned after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, but began drifting apart in the 2000s as Kyiv sought deeper integration with Europe. 

In 2014, pro-Kremlin President Viktor Yanukovych was swept from power after refusing to sign an association agreement with the European Union. 

The mere fact that Ukraine is a democracy has been threatening to the Kremlin, and Russian officials accuse Zelenskyy of being a Western “marionette.” He is often mocked by the Kremlin’s propagandists as being incapable. 

Zelenskyy has also been criticized for not delivering on his biggest campaign promise — to end the long-simmering war between government forces and the Moscow-backed separatists in Ukraine’s east. The conflict that has left 14,000 dead became a flashpoint last week after Russia officially recognized the breakaway territories, Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic. The move paved the way for the invasion days later. 

While rallying support for Ukraine as tensions rose in the run-up to the invasion, Zelenskyy chose to play down dire warnings coming out of Washington that Moscow was about to attack, saying it was hurting Ukraine’s already fragile economy and morale.

He spooked the markets and sent the foreign media into a frenzy earlier this month when — in his characteristically sarcastic style — he appeared to say in a speech that Russia would attack on Feb. 16, later clarifying he was only referring to media reports of an invasion on this date. 

Many questioned his calm tone as being too relaxed, even making him the butt of a joke for American late night show hosts. 

But as it became clear last week, Ukraine was running out of diplomatic options to appease Putin, and while Zelenskyy still preached calm, he took on a more serious tone. He insisted Ukraine was ready for any threat while calling for peace.

Assessing Zelenskyy’s performance in the lead-up to the invasion and as commander in chief, Valentyn Gladkykh, a Kyiv-based political analyst, told NBC News that the Ukrainian president had managed to morph into a wartime leader and, for now, Ukrainian society, including his peacetime opponents, seem to be supporting him.

“No Ukrainian president has ever dealt with a full-on invasion on his territory,” Gladkykh said. “Having encountered the unprecedented threat, Zelenskyy has shown his best side.” 

But his best side may not be enough — he and Ukraine are trapped in a true David and Goliath contest. Vast nuclear-powered Russia spans 11 time zones and its army counts as one of the largest in the world, leaving the army of Texas-size Ukraine outnumbered and outgunned. 

The contrast isn’t only down to size and military might. Within hours of Russia’s first strikes, the difference between Zelenskyy and his counterpart in the Kremlin could not have been more stark.

In his address to justify an incursion into Ukraine late Wednesday, a typically expressionless Putin spoke in his stern ex-KGB officer tone, invoking Russia’s nuclear arsenal and warning anyone who tries to stop him. 

“No one should have any doubts that a direct attack on our country will lead to defeat and dire consequences for any potential aggressor,” he said. 

A few hours earlier, a visibly exhausted Zelenskyy delivered an impassioned, last-minute plea for peace, appealing to Russian citizens directly — in Russian . 

“The people of Ukraine want peace,” he said, warning about the devastation that the war would bring to both people.

“If the Russian leaders don’t want to sit with us behind the table for the sake of peace, maybe they will sit behind the table with you,” Zelenskyy pleaded . “Do Russians want war? I would like to know the answer. But the answer depends only on you.”

Even as Putin’s bombs started falling on Ukrainian soil, Zelenskyy urged Russians to speak up against the war. He thanked those who did Friday, saying “keep fighting for us.”

There is widespread speculation among observers that Putin’s endgame in Ukraine might be to topple Zelenskyy and to install a president more willing to bend before Moscow. Last month, ​​Britain said the Kremlin was seeking to install a pro-Russian leader in Ukraine as part of its plans for an invasion . 

“They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying its head of state,” Zelenskyy said Thursday, saying he was now “target No. 1” for the Russian forces, but vowed to remain in the capital. 

Later Friday, Putin urged Ukrainian soldiers to overthrow their government, even as he suggested he might be willing to enter talks while his forces continued their advance across the country .

But Zelenskyy is left with few options as the Russian offensive intensifies. He could concede ground to Moscow, a move that is likely to be unpopular with many Ukrainians, or hold his position and face the full wrath of the Russian army.

For now, he remains defiant. 

“It will continue like this,” he said in the video posted Friday. “Glory to our defenders, glory to Ukraine.” 

Yuliya Talmazan is a reporter for NBC News Digital, based in London.

Located in eastern Europe, Ukraine is the second-largest country on the European continent after Russia.

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clock This article was published more than  2 years ago

What to know about Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s TV president turned wartime leader

Just a few years ago, Volodymyr Zelensky was a comedian and actor playing Ukraine’s president on television. Now, he’s a real-life wartime leader directing his country in its fight against a Russian invasion.

Though Zelensky says he has become the Kremlin’s “target No. 1,” he has earned the respect of much of the Ukrainian public by refusing to flee the capital. Instead, he has walked the streets of Kyiv and urged Ukrainians to resist, while crafting a successful communications strategy that has won the hearts and minds of European leaders and voters.

While acknowledging that Moscow has vastly superior forces that it has not yet deployed, Western officials say Zelensky’s leadership has firmed up Ukrainian resolve. Here’s what you need to know about the president.

Who is Olena Zelenska, Ukraine’s first lady and Volodymyr Zelensky’s wife?

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U.S. intelligence didn't stop the invasion of Ukraine, but it had positive effects

Rachel Martin

President Biden says the Russian invasion of Ukraine is unfolding largely as predicted. Accurate U.S. intelligence didn't prevent the attack, but it did counter Russian disinformation.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Ukraine needs its people to fight. No need for military training - if you have a passport, they'll give you a gun. And officials say Ukrainians should use Molotov cocktails if need be. But does Ukraine have the military strength to prevent Russian forces from taking over the country, specifically the capital city of Kyiv? U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was asked about that possibility on CBS Evening News yesterday.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "CBS EVENING NEWS WITH NORAH O'DONNELL")

ANTONY BLINKEN: It's certainly under threat. And it could well be under siege. This is the opening salvo of a massive invasion. And we see this continuing and threatening Kyiv and threatening other major cities in Ukraine.

MARTIN: President Biden said yesterday this invasion is unfolding largely as the U.S. had predicted. But accurate U.S. intelligence, some of it shared publicly, did not prevent the Russian attack. So what good did it do? For the next few minutes, we're going to talk about the primary tools the U.S. has at its disposal to help stop Russia's war on Ukraine. We're going to start with NPR national security correspondent Greg Myre. Good morning, Greg.

GREG MYRE, BYLINE: Hi. Good morning, Rachel.

MARTIN: Before we talk about big American strategy in this, just get us up to speed on what is happening on the ground right now.

MYRE: Sure. Russian missiles are pounding the capital, Kyiv. It's clear Russian troops are getting close to the city. They've been coming down from Belarus, which is less than 100 miles to the north. The capital is clearly a Russian priority. And in fact, Rachel, in just in the last hour or so, we're seeing multiple media reports and social media reports of gun battles breaking out on the edge of the city. Earlier today, President Zelenskyy posted a video. He was unshaven and in an olive T-shirt. He said 137 Ukrainians have been killed. He said he's target No. 1 for the Russians. And the big question is, how long can Zelenskyy and his government hold out? And I just want to drive home how extraordinary this is. Zelenskyy is a democratically elected leader of one of Europe's biggest countries. And he's at risk of capture or being killed by an invading Russian army.

MARTIN: So let's talk about the intelligence. As I said earlier, the U.S. has been pretty spot-on about how this was going to all go down, which stands in sharp contrast, we should say, to the - say, the lead up to the Iraq War or the exodus from Afghanistan. But how significant is this since the intelligence didn't stop Vladimir Putin from going ahead?

MYRE: Yeah. I mean, that's a good point, Rachel. Now, the backstory is CIA Director William Burns went to Russia last November to tell the Russians what the U.S. was already seeing about a potential invasion. The hope, of course, was that it would deter Vladimir Putin. It obviously didn't. Still, it probably was not in Putin's expectations that his plans would be broadcast to the world. And that certainly had to factor into his thinking. Now, I spoke about this with John Sipher, an ex-CIA officer who served in Russia. He supports this effort to share intelligence publicly, says that opinion is pretty widely shared with other ex-intelligence officials. And while it didn't stop Putin, it did counter the Russian disinformation narrative, this notion that Ukraine was somehow threatening Russia. He says that sharing the intelligence did help establish a factual narrative that Western governments and their publics could work with.

JOHN SIPHER: It's trying to get information out on what they know the Russians are up to, to try to tell both publics in Europe and the United States, here is the kind of stuff we can expect from Russia. Here's their game plan. They try to create sort of false stories. They try to create false narratives.

MYRE: And as a result, he says, the NATO countries have been unified. We've seen a largely unified response politically and on issues like sanctions.

MARTIN: So the U.S. and NATO have been clear - they're not going to send troops on the ground into Ukraine. So I mean, we know about the sanctions. But what else are they doing in this moment?

MYRE: Well, there's an emergency NATO summit today in Brussels. Biden said he's sending 7,000 more U.S. troops to Europe as part of an effort to reassure NATO allies. He - Biden has also told Zelenskyy that the U.S. could provide humanitarian aid. U.S. troops are ready to help if refugees do come out. And also, if Russia does take over and occupy Ukraine, the CIA could certainly play a role in assisting a Ukrainian insurgency, the kind of thing the agency has done many times in the past.

MARTIN: Although, to varying degrees of success, we should note. NPR's Greg Myre. Thank you so much.

MYRE: My pleasure.

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