Ukrainian comic actor and presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelensky reacts following the announcement of the first exit poll in a presidential election at his campaign headquarters in Kiev, Ukraine, March 31, 2019.
And Volodymyr Zelensky is playing that role. In real life, he now is is leading the race to become Ukraine's next president. Comedian Volodymyr Zelensky is the favourite to become Ukraine's president after results on Monday showed him dominating the first-round vote despite many initially dismissing his candidacy as a joke.
If Zelensky wins then, as polls and analysts suggest, he will take the reins of one of the poorest countries in Europe, a nation of 45 million people fighting Russian-backed separatists in its industrial east.Zelensky told the news website Gordon in December. Both Zelensky and Kolomoisky say their relationship is strictly professional and centred on the comedian's TV work. Both say no undue influence is being exerted by the oligarch, whose businesses range from banking and energy to aviation. However, President Poroshenko has sought to make political capital out of the connection between the two men as he fights to make up ground to the comedian before the run-off vote on April 21.