Volodymyr Zelenskiy declared his personal income for the first time since the outbreak of war with Russia, as part of his effort to increase transparency in his government.

In 2021, the year before Russia invaded Ukraine, Zelenskiy and his family reported income of 10.8 million hryvnia ($285,000), down 12 million hryvnia from the previous year, even as his income was boosted by the sale of $142,000 of government bonds, according to a statement on his website.

In 2022, the first year of the Russian invasion, the Zelenskiy family’s income fell further to 3.7 million hryvnia as he earned less income from renting real estate he owned because of the hostilities.

Even as the war allowed Ukrainian officials to withhold revealing sensitive personal information, Zelenskiy pushed to make them publicly declare assets. Increasing transparency and tackling graft are necessary for his country to ensure continued financial aid from its western allies, even as more than $100 billion of funds are held up due to political maneuvering inside US and EU.

    • june@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      I think we’re gonna learn some things about him after this war is over that we won’t like. He’s doing great as a war time president, but no one is this squeaky clean.

      • eek2121@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        …and that is okay. He is still doing an incredible job and is an incredible public figure.

        Nobody is perfect, nor do they have to be.

        • june@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Absolutely. I couldn’t agree more.

          I just see a lot of people putting him on a pedestal that are probably gonna be let down some day.

      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        True.

        For example Churchill: great wartime PM, but also very much an anti-worker free market believing imperialist who actively fought against both independence for and immigration from the British colonies. People tend to only remember the first part, though.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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          11 months ago

          My dad, who was a socialist until the day he died, told me proudly about how he booed Churchill when Churchill came to visit his high school after the war, but when he was still PM. He was Jewish, so he appreciated Churchill’s war leadership that kept the Nazis from invading, but otherwise thought he was a shit leader.

        • Kidplayer_666@lemm.ee
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          11 months ago

          And wasn’t he kinda known for being a drunk? (Still one of the most quotable people in recent history)

      • banneryear1868@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Here’s his approval rating over time that reflects this point perfectly. He’s supported in his actions during the war way more than he was as a politician, he was actually doing pretty badly before the war in his approvals. Interested to see how the prolonged conflict affects this, and what the regional differences are.

      • Woht24@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        But you could say the same thing about you, just you’re not in a spotlight. What’s the point of even saying ‘everyone has something’.

        • june@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Yes, I am included in ‘everyone’.

          The reason I say it is because Zelensky has been put on a pretty high pedestal, for example:

          bruh everything about zelensky is incredible. What a guy

          And some folks are going to be sorely disappointed later on when they learn more about him and where his failings lie.

            • june@lemmy.world
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              11 months ago

              Which would be meaningless for nearly anyone that’s not in a position of power and influence, yes.

              I’m really not sure what your point is here.

    • comrade19@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      I hope they make statues of him like they did with all those bygone fellas that did something great

    • Lev_Astov@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      I’ve been disturbed to see an increasing number of purple parroting character assassination points about Zelenskiy.

          • sin_free_for_00_days@sopuli.xyz
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            11 months ago

            You don’t want Israel to exist? And, yes, Zelenskiy was born Jewish. I’m sure he supports the existence of a Jewish state, aka a Zionist.

              • barsoap@lemm.ee
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                11 months ago

                There’s a difference between having a state in which an ethnicity can feel at home and safe, and ethnically purifying that state.

                Labour Zionism is the former, Religious Zionism the latter.

                What would you think about the whole Israel project if it would look, policy-wise, just like what the YPG built in Rojava? If Kurds can do it and we applaud when they do it, why not Jews?

              • Argonne@lemmy.world
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                11 months ago

                Most middle east Arab states are religious ethnostates too. By your logic they should not exist either. Israel is home to Jews that were kicked out of all Arab states

            • NoneOfUrBusiness@kbin.social
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              11 months ago

              Setting aside that Israel is fundamentally an Apartheid state (that’s kinda the sales pitch when you say “Jewish state”) and therefore shouldn’t exist, that’s not what I’m talking about. He’s been pretty loud about his support for Israel’s war when he could’ve just stayed silent.

              • Argonne@lemmy.world
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                11 months ago

                Why don’t you look at Israels demographic before calling it an apartheid? By that definition most middle east countries are apartheid

                • NoneOfUrBusiness@kbin.social
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                  11 months ago

                  I’m… Not sure what you’re even trying to say. Israel’s sales pitch is a state where Jews are superior to none-Jews. That assumption is in every fabric of Israeli society. By your definition South Africa wouldn’t have been Apartheid because they had black people.

                  • Argonne@lemmy.world
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                    11 months ago

                    I’m not sure what you are trying to say. Regular people don’t care if you are Jewish or not.

                    Israel is a parliamentary democracy with a multiparty system and independent institutions that guarantee political rights and civil liberties for most of the population. Although the judiciary is comparatively active in protecting minority rights, the political leadership and many in society have discriminated against Arab and other ethnic or religious minority populations, resulting in systemic disparities in areas including infrastructure, criminal justice, education, and economic opportunity.

                    https://freedomhouse.org/country/israel

                    This is no different than Black people in the US. No one calls USA an apartheid state?

                    Also you conveniently ignored my point about the rest of the middle east