Awaiting him are hard problems. The New York Times has reported audits showing about US$1.2-billion lost to fraud, waste and mismanagement in defence procurement in 2024 alone.
The first time I saw Volodymyr Zelensky up close, in July, 2019, was at the third annual Ukraine Reform Conference in Toronto. He had been President for six weeks. Standing beside Justin Trudeau, he looked like he had been sent by the same casting agency.
The resemblance was uncanny, and not only physically. Both men were young, photogenic, magnetic in a room, instinctively warm. Both had come to politics from performance: Mr. Trudeau the former drama teacher, Mr. Zelensky the comedian who had played a president on television and then, astonishingly, became one. Watching them work that room together, it was almost impossible not to think of them as two versions of the same political animal.
