The Ukrainian people “have a leader worthy of their bravery and resilience” in Volodymyr Zelensky, US President Joe Biden has written in a piece for TIME magazine.
Mr Biden offered glowing praise of the Ukrainian actor turned politician in a short piece published in TIME to mark Mr Zelensky’s inclusion in the magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2022.
The American president said Mr Zelensky’s words, “the president is here”, spoken during a video he shot on his mobile phone alongside advisers two days after Russia began bombing Kyiv, had “echoed around the world”.
“Each time we speak, I hear in President Zelensky’s voice the relentless determination of a man who believes profoundly in his duty to his people, and lives up daily to the solemn responsibility of leading his nation through this dark and difficult hour,” Mr Biden said.
He added that Mr Zelensky has “inspired” the “nations of the free world” to be “more united, more determined, and more purposeful than at any point in recent memory” and said the Ukrainian president has “left his mark on history and proved to the world that Ukraine will long endure and its people will ultimately realize the democratic future they have long desired”.
