Zelensky was a comedian and actor before soundly defeating Petro Poroshenko with more than 70% of the vote in 2019.
He had no political experience and named his political party after the TV sitcom on which he played a president, "Servant of the People." axios.com/ukraine-volody…
Zelensky: "Throughout my entire life, I’ve tried to do everything so Ukrainians smiled. In the next five years, I will do everything so that you, Ukrainians, don’t cry." axios.com/ukraine-volody…
Three months after entering office, Zelensky was thrust into the center of Trump's first impeachment inquiry after the U.S. withheld military aid to Ukraine to pressure Zelensky to investigate Hunter Biden. axios.com/ukraine-volody…
Zelensky has turned down an American offer to evacuate, saying "the fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride."
"I'm here. We are not putting down any arms. We will protect our country, because our weapons are our truth." axios.com/ukraine-volody…
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BREAKING: EU and U.S. to expel some Russian banks from SWIFT payments system axios.com/eu-expels-russ…
Some European allies had previously expressed concern that disconnecting Russian banks' access to the primary system for global financial transactions would cause collateral economic damage. axios.com/eu-expels-russ…
The U.K. and Canada joined the U.S. and EU countries in the effort to cut off Russia from the world's most important financial messaging system. axios.com/eu-expels-russ…
🧵: Several of Russia's closest allies and former Soviet satellite states have sharply rebuked President Vladimir Putin over his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. axios.com/putin-allies-a…
🇨🇿 The Czech Republic closed Russian consulates in the country and stopped issuing visas to Russians except for humanitarian cases. axios.com/putin-allies-a…
🇭🇺 Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijijarto: “Hungary’s position is clear: we stand by Ukraine, we stand by Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.” axios.com/putin-allies-a…
SWIFT, or the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, is a secure messaging service that more than 11k banks around the world use to communicate.
"Essentially, the Gmail of global banking," as Bloomberg explained yesterday. axios.com/swift-russia-u…
Cutting Russian banks' access would isolate the country from the global financial community, and put more economic pressure on the Kremlin.
The U.S. and its European counterparts have so far held back from cutting off SWIFT, but it's not off the table. axios.com/swift-russia-u…
BREAKING: Biden to nominate Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to be the first Black woman on the Supreme Court, according to a source familiar with the matter. trib.al/1amGY1u
Jackson served for two years as a federal public defender and would be the first justice in decades with any significant experience representing criminal defendants. axios.com/biden-supreme-…
In many ways, she has the resume we’ve come to expect from Supreme Court justices:
Harvard Law, a SCOTUS clerkship, some time at prestigious corporate law firms, and a seat on the federal judiciary — specifically, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. axios.com/biden-supreme-…
BREAKING: Biden announced that G7 leaders have agreed to impose new sanctions against Russia, including further measures on four financial institutions and sanctioning "Russian elites and their family members."
Biden said the purpose of the sanctions is to “limit Russia’s ability to do business in dollars, euros, pounds and yen to be part of the global economy.”
Biden: “This was never about a genuine security concern on their part. It was always about naked aggression — about Putin’s desire for empire, by any means necessary.”
Biden said Putin will “bear the consequences” for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.