Five years ago Zelensky officially became the president of Ukraine
Source: Bukvy
Five years ago, on May 20, 2019, Volodymyr Zelensky officially became the president of Ukraine.
On New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2018, Zelensky announced on the air of the 1+1 TV channel that he would run for the presidential elections.
On January 21, the Servant of the People party nominated Zelensky for the presidency, and on January 25, he submitted documents to the election commission. Soon, Zelensky presented his program.
In the second round of elections held on April 21, 2019, Zelensky defeated the then president Petro Poroshenko, gaining 73.22% of the vote against 24.45%.
Twelve TV channels broadcast the 2019 inauguration ceremony live. Volodymyr Zelenskyi assured in his speech that for the sake of peace in Donbas, he was ready to do anything, even to lose the chair of the head of state.
Zelensky’s first decision as president was to dissolve the parliament. Volodymyr Zelensky also called for the dismissal of the heads of the Security Service, the Ministry of Defense, and the Prosecutor’s General Office of Ukraine.
In 2025, the deadliest year yet for civilians, Ukraine’s three largest charitable foundations raised a record 105.9 billion hryvnias. It is more than the years 2022–2024 combined. According to the UN, humanitarian aid in Ukraine was delivered by more than 450 organisations, reaching five million people over the course of the year. Civic foundations hold licences to purchase lethal weapons, which is a function states have monopolised for centuries. These record sums were underwritten by international government grants, which means foreign states now channel billions directly through Ukrainian civic funds, bypassing inter-state channels. It is hard to imagine a stronger institutional trust in civil society.
During the GLOBSEC Defence Forum 2026 in Prague, representatives of “Steel Front”, an initiative by Rinat Akhmetov, discussed with NATO delegations, military officials, and representatives of the European defense industry the lessons learned from Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.
After the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine witnessed an unprecedented wave of private support for the army. Citizens, big businesses, charitable foundations, and international philanthropists began financing the country’s defense alongside state assistance provided by international partners. Estimates of total private contributions range from tens to hundreds of billions of hryvnias. However, determining the exact amount remains difficult. In many cases, companies combine military aid, humanitarian programs, tax payments, social spending, and employee support in their reporting.
Rinat Akhmetov’s military initiative, “Steel Front”, has delivered a batch of drones worth UAH 214 million to the 1st “Azov” Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine. This shipment is part of the Metinvest Group’s ongoing support for the unit in 2025.
On October 6, the Administrative Cassation Court within the Supreme Court of Ukraine continued hearing case No. 990/80/25, in which the fifth President and leader of the party “European Solidarity”, Petro Poroshenko, seeks to have Presidential Decree No. 81/2025 from February 12, 2025 — enacting sanctions by the decision of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) — declared illegal and annulled. The plaintiff claims the document was falsified and that the sanctions are a tool of political persecution of the opposition, contrary to international norms. Government representatives deny the allegations and insist their actions were lawful. Journalists of Bukvy were present at the hearing.