Volodymyr Zelensky was previously famous as a comedian who played "a character from a TV series, who becomes president by chance"; now he gets to play the role for real, says Katya Gorchinskaya in The Guardian. His victory in Sunday's Ukrainian presidential election, despite having "zero political experience", was born from deep anger at "the rule of old political elites" and years of IMF-backed austerity.
Good luck with that, say Daryna Krasnolutska andVolodymyr Verbyany for Bloomberg. When he's formally sworn in next month, Zelensky will "take stewardship of a country at war" the country is still fighting Russian-backed separatists in its Donbass region and "stuck in the middle of a geopolitical feud between the West and Russia". The economy is also reliant on foreign aid, so Zelensky "will probably have to agree to a new aid package, including more potentially controversial economic reforms". And as yet, the newcomer has no representation in parliament.
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Of all his problems, relations with Russia are the most immediate, says Justin Lynch in Foreign Policy. President Putin refused to congratulate him, and there are rumours that Russia "may be ready to pounce amid a military and naval build-up". Zelensky is sure to find his sense of humourand substancetested in the very near future.
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