How Zelenskiy became Hollywood’s man of the hour

When Ben Stiller met Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv, he told the president: ‘You’re my hero.’ Photograph: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Reuters

When Ben Stiller walked into the office of Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in June, he embraced the wartime leader telling him, “You’re my hero.”

Stiller is one in a line of stars from the entertainment world who made the long journey to Kyiv to meet Zelenskiy – himself a former actor and comedian. A journey that involves an overnight train journey from Poland as commercial flights – let alone private jets – cannot fly in Ukraine’s airspace for safety reasons.