president.
The site of the exhausted but defiant Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky filming himself in the
streets of Kiev as Russians shelled the city captured the world's imagination,
rarely as a world leader seen recording selfies from a city under attack.
Nice office.
When did you look richard wasn't it?
There?
You look *** risky.
President Zelensky and the Ukrainian people are a true inspiration.
Very brave,
brave man what this dude is doing.
It is incredibly moving.
Russian forces far outnumbered Ukraine's army.
And Zielinski is prolific online and social media messaging in the first crucial days of the invasion
helped galvanize widespread support for Ukraine.
This is how he did it
Until Russia invaded Ukraine.
Vladimir Zelensky was to most people simply a supporting character in the first
impeachment of former us President Donald Trump in 2019.
That episode focused on Trump's request to Zelensky to look into then Democratic
presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
During a conversation about releasing US military aid to Ukraine,
Zelensky took on a leading role when he became the face of Ukraine's resistance against Russian
president Vladimir Putin's forces.
There's something about the personal reputations that makes it powerful.
You know,
the kind of sort of cinema verite kind of approach.
Andrew Chadwick is a political scientist based in the UK who studies the role of the internet and new
media in political communications.
He was very effective,
communicating to the public that are in the nations that
he needed to get onside Partly because he knew
that it was important to reach them so that they would put pressure
on their governments.
The 44 year old spoke regularly with Western leaders,
imploring them to step up their actions against Putin and grant the country admission to NATO
was particularly effective I think,
in cutting through in a way that often it's difficult to do
in a military conflict using direct
video communication,
that he knew was likely to be circulated on social
media.
There's a certain emotionality involved in his communication as well.
My border was
one of the most striking images that came out was the pre war period when
Putin met with Emmanuel Macron,
the french leader,
was this huge table that they sat at either end of in one
of those Alinsky's talks,
he actually drew attention to the distance that Putin had established
and kind of taunted him for it.
It's
interesting to consider the cultural power of somebody like
Zelensky.
I mean,
he started out,
you know,
in show business as a comedian,
as an actor,
as a stage performer and so he understands quite readily.
I think the way that most ordinary people don't what it takes to really
cut through with with messaging Before he was
elected president in 2019.
Zielinski was best known for his television role as an ordinary schoolteacher,
accidentally catapulted into power.
The show servant of the people ran for four years,
making him a household name in Ukraine clips from Zielinski is passed as an entertainer,
including an appearance on Ukraine's version of dancing with the stars were widely shared online
after war broke out.
Where these videos have gone viral,
particularly on twitter.
I can see that people think that they want to do their bit by sort of sharing
these to boost the cultural profile of Zelensky.
But of course whether or not that makes much difference at the ground level when it comes to the
brutal reality of the conflict is a different matter entirely.
Zemlinskis direct appeals to western leaders and his regular online video addresses helped
shape the response to Russia's invasion.
Harsher economic sanctions against Russia followed a call with allies in which Zelinsky told those
present it might be the last time they saw him alive.
According to several diplomats and pro Ukraine rallies took place in cities across
the globe.
Mm hmm.
I think the whole world has,
has recognized that the power of one person,
President Zelensky to motivate a nation has been demonstrated
in a way we will not forget.
I think what's happened is that digital media and social media have changed the game of
warfare and wartime communications and they've
democratized it.
And that makes these kinds of conflicts very different from the
traditional understanding of conflicts that we inherited from the
20th century.
And Zelensky recognized that
national which is nanny Vinny.
Mhm