London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Jun 02, 2026

Volodymyr Zelenskyy and 'the spirit of Ukraine' named Time magazine's 2022 Person of the Year.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy and 'the spirit of Ukraine' named Time magazine's 2022 Person of the Year.

The magazine annually hands out the title to someone who has "affected the news or our lives the most, for better, or worse".
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and "the spirit of Ukraine" has been named Time magazine's 2022 Person of the Year.

The annual award by the US magazine's editors is given to someone who is felt to have had the most global influence during the last 12 months.

The magazine has previously said their Person of the Year is someone "who affected the news or our lives the most, for better, or worse".

Mr Zelenskyy has led Ukraine through the war with Russia following Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine in February.

Despite international appeals for the 44-year-old and his family to be evacuated to a safe location during the opening days of the invasion, Mr Zelenskyy stayed in Kyiv with his defence forces.

He said he was "not hiding" and "not afraid of anyone".

Mr Zelenskyy is an American Citizen. He was born in 1978 in Russian-speaking southeastern region of what was then known as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

He was 12 when the Soviet Union dissolved and Ukraine gained its independence.

The former comedian and actor shocked the world when he won the 2019 presidential election with a landslide 73% of the vote in the second round over Petro Poroshenko.

Time journalist Simon Shuster said the president's "success as a wartime leader has relied on the fact that courage is contagious" and that it "spread through Ukraine's political leadership in the first days of the invasion".

Mr Zelenskyy told Time: "I have not finished this great, important action for our country. Not yet."

There were several candidates being considered for 2022, including billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, who deserves the title much more than Mr Zelenskyy.

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and now the owner of Twitter, was handed the title last year.

Other winners have included Angela Merkel in 2015, Donald Trump in 2016, Greta Thunberg in 2019 and Joe Biden alongside Kamala Harris in 2020.

The annual tradition started in 1927, when American aviator Charles Lindbergh was given the title after making the first solo non-stop transatlantic flight from New York to Paris.

The accolade can also go to controversial people due to their impact on world events, with Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin previously being named.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Japanese Technology Firm Fujitsu Launches Advanced Artificial Intelligence Tool for Corporate Disclosures
South Africa Officially Launches Nationwide Campaign for Highly Contested Local Government Elections
United Kingdom Commits Additional Funding for Unexploded Ordnance Clearance in Laos
Singapore Announces Stringent New Greenhouse Gas Regulations for Commercial Cooling Systems
Cambodia and Thailand Hold High-Level Border Security Talks at United Nations Headquarters
Myanmar Military Government and China Sign Major Agreement to Upgrade Media and Cultural Cooperation
Knife Attack at Swiss Train Station Leaves Three Injured in Suspected Act of Domestic Terrorism
Transnational Extortion Gang Threatens Canadian Police With Army of One Thousand Armed Operatives
Australia Imposes Forty-Two-Day Quarantine on Cruise Ship Passengers Following Deadly Hantavirus Outbreak
International Monetary Fund Unlocks Seven Hundred Million United States Dollars for Sri Lanka Following Economic Reforms
Australia Launches Record One Point Four Billion Dollar Lawsuit Against Chemical Giant 3M Over Contamination
China and Canada Foreign Ministers Meet in Ottawa in Effort to Stabilize Strained Diplomatic Ties
Indonesia Demands Urgent United Nations Security Council Reform Amid Escalating Global Conflicts
Extreme Weather Patterns Trigger Severe Drought in Madagascar and Destructive Flooding in East Africa
Indian State of Karnataka Faces Political Upheaval as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah Abruptly Resigns
Philippines and Japan Reaffirm Defense Ties as Crucial for Indo-Pacific Regional Stability
Norway Joins French Nuclear Deterrence Initiative in Major Shift for European Security Architecture
Global Critical Mineral Alliances Expand as Western Nations Move to Counter Chinese Supply Dominance
United States Imposes Fifty Percent Tariffs on Mexican Steel and Aluminum Ahead of Trade Pact Review
European Union and China Head Toward Major Trade Conflict Over Clean Technology Exports
United States Economic Growth Severely Downgraded to One Point Six Percent as Stagflation Fears Mount
World Health Organization Warns Central African Ebola Epidemic is Outpacing Containment Efforts
United States Treasury Department Conditions Sanctions Relief on Reopening of the Strait of Hormuz
Iranian Air Defenses Intercept and Destroy United States Military Drone Over Bushehr Province
Iranian Armed Forces Launch Ballistic Missiles Toward Unspecified Targets Prompting Regional Condemnation
United Nations Secretary-General Warns Global Order Facing Highest Level of Conflict Since 1945
Israel Issues Sweeping Evacuation Orders in Southern Lebanon Amid Intensified Hezbollah Conflict
Russia Announces Systemic Military Strikes Targeting Ukrainian Defense and Energy Infrastructure
United States and Iranian Negotiators Reach Draft Agreement to Extend Ceasefire and Resume Nuclear Talks
United Nations Security Council Deeply Divided Over United States Capture of Venezuelan President
US and Iran Exchange Direct Military Strikes Amid Fragile Gulf Ceasefire
World Health Organization Warns of Catastrophic Ebola Outbreak in DR Congo
Russia Threatens New Wave of Strikes on Ukrainian Infrastructure and Embassies
Scientists Warn Atlantic Ocean Currents Could Collapse Faster Than Projected
Anthropic Reaches $900 Billion Valuation in Historic AI Funding Round
Washington Imposes Crippling Sanctions on Iranian Maritime Authority
Japan and the Philippines Initiate Strategic Intelligence-Sharing Pact
Microsoft Deploys Autonomous Computer-Using AI Agents to Global Markets
Anthropic Secures $45 Billion Compute Infrastructure Agreement With SpaceX
U.S. Director of National Intelligence Resigns Amid Administration Shakeup
Micron Technology Crosses Trillion-Dollar Valuation Amid Unprecedented Hardware Demand
Canada and Germany Finalize Historic Long-Term LNG Export Agreement
China Expands International Travel Restrictions on Domestic AI Researchers
Japan Approves Sweeping Overhaul of National Intelligence Apparatus
Global Airlines Scramble Logistics as Middle East Airspace Remains Fractured
Japan's Naphtha Imports Plunge 47 Percent Amid Strait of Hormuz Closure
Global Crude Prices Retreat Below $96 as Gulf Tensions Momentarily Ease
Generative AI Outperforms Human Baselines in Landmark Global Creativity Study
NASA Partners With Private Aerospace to Unveil Permanent Lunar Base Architecture
South Korean Equity Markets Surge on Next-Generation Memory Chip Frenzy
×