The magazine revealed its choice on Wednesday as it tweeted the front page of a special edition featuring the leader, saying he inspired Ukrainians and won global accolades for his courage in resisting Russia’s devastating invasion.
Refusing to leave Ukraine‘s capital of Kyiv at the outbreak of the war as Russian bombs rained down, the former comedian rallied his compatriots in broadcasts from the capital and traveled across his war-torn nation, the publication noted in bestowing its annual title.
On Tuesday, Mr Zelensky visited Ukrainian troops near the front lines in eastern Ukraine.
Acknowledging the 44-year-old leader, TIME wrote: “Zelensky’s success as a wartime leader has relied on the fact that courage is contagious.
“It spread through Ukraine’s political leadership in the first days of the invasion, as everyone realized the president had stuck around.”
Mr Zelensky became President in 2019, and has been in office throughout Russia’s war against Ukraine, which began in February.
Russia-Ukraine Crisis:: Volodymyr Zelensky Ukraine war timeline
Russian invasion of Ukraine: Prime Minister Boris Johnson with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, touring Independence Square during his visit to Kyiv (PA Media)
In this image from video provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office and posted on Facebook, on Monday, April 25, 2022, from left; U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pose for a picture during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP) (AP)
In this image released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office on Sunday, May 1, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, awards the Order of Princess Olga, the third grade, to U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, April 30, 2022. (AP)
In this handout picture released and taken by Ukrainian Presidency Press Office on March 13, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) snaps a selfie with an injured man laying on a bed during a visit at a military hospital following fightings in the Kyiv region (UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SER)
In this handout picture released and taken by Ukrainian Presidency Press Office on March 13, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (2ndR) speaks to an injured man laying on a bed during a visit at a military hospital following fightings in the Kyiv region. (UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SER)
In this handout picture released and taken by Ukrainian Presidency Press Office on March 13, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (2ndR) speaks to with an injured man laying on a bed during a visit at a military hospital following fightings in the Kyiv region. (UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SER)
In this handout picture released and taken by Ukrainian Presidency Press Office on March 13, 2022, a member of the medical staff receives is awarded by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (R) during his visit at a military hospital following fightings in the Kyiv region. (UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SER)
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy listens to a chief of the National military medical clinical centre Major General Anatolii Kazmirchuk and a chief of Medical Forces Command Brigadier General Tetiana Ostashchenko, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, at the hospital’s compound in Kyiv, Ukraine (via REUTERS)
This handout video grab taken and released by the Ukraine Presidency press service on March 4, 2022 shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky delivering an address in Kyiv. (UKRAINE PRESIDENCY/AFP via Getty)
This screen grab taken from a video made available on the Facebook account of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, shows himself speaking face camera on February 25, 2022. (FACEBOOK / @Volodymyr Zelensky/A)
This screen grab taken from a video made available on the Facebook account of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, shows himself speaking face camera on February 26, 2022. (FACEBOOK / @Volodymyr Zelensky/A)
He grew up in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast of central Ukraine and studied at the Kyiv National Economic University, before pursuing a career in comedy and acting, including in hugely popular TV series Servant of the People in which he played the President of Ukraine.
He won the election in 2019 with more than 73 per cent of the vote.
Mr Zelensky joins a long line of politicians to have been selected TIME’s ‘Person of the Year’, including Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, Angela Merkel, Barack Obama, and Vladimir Putin - the latter of whom was selected in 2007.
Tesla Inc Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk was named Time‘s ‘Person of the Year’ in 2021, a year that saw his electric car company become the most valuable carmaker in the world. TIME began the tradition of selecting a ‘Person of the Year’ in 1927.
Piers Morgan, the broadcaster, may have finally blown apart the long-running Royal “racism row” when he named on his Talk TV show two members of the Royal family a new book claims were the individuals so disgracefully implicated by the Duchess of Sussex. You may recall that Morgan was sacked by ITV when he said, after the Sussexes’ interview with Oprah, that he didn’t believe a word Meghan had said. Like millions of us, he has had enough of this manipulative, malevolent nonsense, apparently calc
The powers that choose to play the Great Game on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan have never prospered. Despite the courage of generals and the brains of political agents, their best-laid plans – whether British in the 19th century, Russian in the 20th, or American in the 21st – have generally ended in disaster and retreat. Now it seems that China – which has long treated Pakistan as its client and proxy in a push for a defining regional role, most recently through the Belt and Road I
Ukraine’s SBU security service carried out an overnight explosion on a key rail route between Russia and China, law enforcement agencies told NV on Nov. 30.
Two years ago, after yet another couple of nights of rioting in the banlieues, twenty retired French generals wrote an open letter to Emmanuel Macron, then about to run for a second term, warning that the divisions between communities and increasing “violence and nihilism” in France would eventually cause a social breakdown, with a risk of “chaos” leading to a “civil war” that would then “require” a military “intervention… in a dangerous mission to protect our civilisational values and safeguard
A father’s last moments protecting his son before he was murdered in the street by a gang armed with machetes and zombie knives has been caught on CCTV. Kelvin Ward, 50, was stabbed after leaving a KFC with his son, who the gang had been trying to kill, on 18 April. The armed gang launched themselves at Mr Ward as they chased him across the street, before he was fatally stabbed.
Call off the search: the worst show of 2023 is here. That is, unless you’re a 13-year-old boy, in which case Obliterated (Netflix) is your dream product. Guns! Naked breasts! A lead character who is a government operative but also looks smokin’ hot in a red bikini! And that’s before we get to the script, in which a foreign baddie plots to nuke Las Vegas. Standing in his way is an elite tactical unit (the best kind) whose members say things like: “We’re supposed to stop the bad guy with the bomb”
Prince Harry's ex-girlfriend Cressida Bonas joined the likes of Zara Tindall and Princess Beatrice to support Princess Eugenie for an important reason on Wednesday night. See photos.
How’s Brexit working out? There have been some marginal positives, but in terms of the economy, it’s been mainly downside, and on the issues that really matter to voters – particularly immigration and a better functioning health service with more money behind it – Brexit has so far manifestly failed to deliver.
The Princess of Wales has shown off new sleek hair as she welcomed Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden royals to Windsor Castle alongside Prince William
Donald Trump has been accused of using his company’s funds to pay his tax and legal bills, in breach of a court ruling that requires him to notify a financial auditor before withdrawing cash.
As Eurocrats-in-chief go, Ursula von der Leyen has generally been relatively inoffensive to British sensibilities. Most of us were dimly aware that she was one of those people who excel at “failing upwards”, with her emergence as President of the European Commission following a chequered spell as Germany’s defence minister.