Do we like them?Do we like Volodymyr Zelensky?
Our score: 6 out of 10. Nothing harmful of his own turned up and he has spoken up for LGBTQ+ equality, but corruption allegations around his inner circle and the July 2025 anti-corruption law keep it mixed.
Zelensky is the comedian-turned-president, and the show-business past matters to this story. The producer at the centre of Ukraine's biggest corruption case of his presidency, Timur Mindich, is a former business partner of his. That is why every scandal around him gets read through who he came up with, not just what he signed.
The defining stain is July 2025. A law he signed on 22 July gave the prosecutor general power over the anti-corruption bodies NABU and SAPO, and it set off mass protests and warnings from European leaders. Two days later he proposed a bill to reverse it, and parliament passed that 331 to nil on 31 July. Critics called the original a step towards authoritarianism, and a Servant of the People lawmaker said colleagues had been pressured to back it. The quick U-turn counts for something, but it was a protest and EU pressure that forced it.
Then came Operation Midas. In November 2025 NABU alleged a scheme at the state nuclear company Energoatom involving kickbacks of 10 to 15 per cent on contracts, with Mindich as the alleged organiser. Mindich reportedly left Ukraine before the raids. Zelensky made the justice and energy ministers resign. None of the reporting I read accuses him personally, but the people accused are his old mates, and in 2026 an anti-corruption watchdog also called for the suspension of his negotiator Rustem Umerov, who was questioned but not charged and denies wrongdoing.
On the harm test he comes out clean. In June 2026 he said he thinks everything should be discussed openly with society, and that LGBTQ+ people defending the state should have equal rights. He had earlier said he would sign a civil partnerships law if parliament passed one. The catch is that the bill has stalled in parliament, so it is words and a promise rather than a delivered law. I found nothing in what I read where he targets women, migrants, or trans people.
The recent drama is the Trump feud. After Trump called for him to go, Zelensky offered elections for a 60-day ceasefire. That echoes what he told Axios in 2025, when he said he was ready not to seek a second term if the war ended. Elections can't be held under martial law, so where you land depends on whether you read the offer as a real handover or as a bargaining chip. I couldn't open more detail on the October exchange, so that part is thin.
The good stuff is real. Time named him Person of the Year for 2022 alongside the spirit of Ukraine, a country he has fronted since the full-scale invasion. He has also put his name to equal rights for LGBTQ+ soldiers when it would have been easier to stay quiet, and he backed down on the anti-corruption law rather than dig in.