It is surely a sign of the times that a comedian who played the President of Ukraine in a popular TV series is now the actual President of Ukraine. But these days, with the malaise surrounding the professional political class almost everywhere, it is hard to be surprised.
Oligarch-in-chief Petro Poroshenko (and most of the political order brought in by the 2014 Maidan wave of social revolt) had achieved levels of unpopularity competitive with Britain’s former prime minister Theresa May. Zelensky whooped him by such a margin (getting nearly 75 per cent of the vote) that it wasn’t even possible to manipulate the results. It was driven by a combination of oligarch fatigue (Poroshenko is a candy baron) and frustration with the ersatz nationalism that rules the roost in Kiev. Poroshenko’s slogans of ‘Army, Language, Faith’ and ‘It’s me or Putin’ rang increasingly hollow, particularly to younger Ukrainians
