The first few months of Zelensky's tenure looked promising — Photo: Markiian Lyseiko/Ukrinform via ZUMA Wire
Faustine Vincent, Wordlcrunch/Le Monde: In Ukraine, The Zelensky Revolution Crashes Into Reality
The head of state, a political outsider who had promised to fight corruption, must contend with the powerful oligarchs in his own entourage at the risk of disappointing his voters.
KIEV — At the appointed hour, a crowd of fur hats and coats gathers in front of the town hall. The thermometer reads -17°C on this January Sunday in Kryvyi Rih, located in central Ukraine. Demonstrators take turns speaking in front of the austere building. "We are very poor, the charges are increasing and the nation is under threat; we have to oppose the rates," a woman says. "Zelensky sold our city to the oligarchs!" says another.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, grew up here, in this industrial city of 630,000 inhabitants that is bristling with waste mountains and factory chimneys, the sky hidden by a veil of pollution.
There are many among the 300 or so people that came to protest against the increase in rates who had voted for Zelensky in the April 2019 presidential election. They had been won over by the anti-elitist speeches of this former actor, a political novice, who was only famous before then for playing the role of president in a television series.
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WNU Editor: Ukraine President Zelensky is a better President than his predecessors. But that is more of a reflection on how bad his predecessors were. The main issues that are confronting his government are the following .... Covid-19, the war in the east, corruption, the economy, and Ukraine's relations with Russia.
