Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images; Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyyis being hailed for his live address to the U.S. Congress on Wednesday — a moment that’s drawingcomparisonsto Winston Churchill for, among other things, what he wore.
Making hisfirst trip outside his home countrysince the Russian invasion began in February, Zelenskyy arrived in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, where he first met with PresidentJoe Bidenand first lady Dr.Jill Biden.
As has become something of a trademark for the 44-year-old Ukrainian leader, Zelenskyy wore his green military fatigues with a matching sweatshirt — a symbol of patriotism with his countrymen continuing to fight back at home and a reminder that the comedian-turned-politician stands in solidarity with his people.
As political historians were quick to note, arriving for a meeting with the president in casual military uniform may look unusually dressed-down, but it’s not without precedent.
When British Prime Minister Winston Churchill visited the White House in 1941 — amid World War II — he did so in a one-piece romper suit, meant to be worn in the event of an air raid.
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As Fox News hostBret Baiernoted in an op-ed for the network, the parallels between Churchill and Zelenskyy are notable. Both men, Baier wrote, “in their own times stood in the breach to defend freedom when the odds were almost insurmountable.”
“Churchill was virtually alone in the world against Hitler, even as bombs were falling nightly on his cities,” Baier continued. “Zelenskyy wasn’t expected to survive a week after the Russian invasion, much less nearly 10 months and counting.”
Since Russia beganits invasion of Ukrainein earnest in February, Zelenskyy became an overnight wartime hero to many, gaining recognition for his selfie videos from the capital, in which hevows to continue the fight, and for his his rebuff of a U.S. offer to evacuate him from danger, when he declared, “I need ammunition, not a ride.”
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Speaking toTimein April, Zelenskyy — who hastwo children, 17-year-old Oleksandra and 9-year-old Kyrylo, with Ukrainian First LadyOlena Zelenska— acknowledged that he has become a “symbol,” adding that the attention is why he has been so steadfast about remaining in the country.
“You understand that they’re watching,” he tells the outlet. “You’re a symbol. You need to act the way the head of state must act.”
On Wednesday, he sat for a bilateral meeting with President Biden, addressing Congress that evening with remarks that quoted none other than Churchill himself.
“We will fight till the end, at sea, in the air,” Zelenskyy said,echoing a speech Churchill gavein 1940. “We will fight in the forests, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets.”
source: people.com
