Much of the world has spent the last year watching the war in Ukraine as the country defends itself from Russian attacks and asserts its identity on the global stage.
So it may not come as a surprise to many that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and “the spirit of Ukraine” are officially Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2022.
The magazine, which has bestowed the honor annually since 1927, released the announcement on Wednesday alongside a lengthy profile of the wartime leader. It credits his stewardship of Ukraine’s defense — which has halted Russia’s advance and regained key territories — as well as its public image.
“Whether one looks at this story of Ukraine with a sense of hope or a sense of fear, and the story is, of course, not fully written yet … Zelenskyy has really galvanized the world in a way we haven’t seen in decades,” Editor-in-Chief Edward Felsenthal said when revealing the news on the TODAY show.
The cover features a profile of Zelenskyy in his classic army-green sweater, surrounded by individual figures and crowds of protesters. They are interspersed with bright yellow sunflowers and blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flags.
The publication refers to Zelenskyy’s pointed refusal to evacuate abroad when Russia first invaded in February, as well as his risky visits to frontline regions in the months since, as examples of his fortitude that have inspired other Ukrainians in their fight for freedom.
And it highlights his strategic efforts to keep Ukraine top-of-mind for supporters around the world.
“If we fall out of focus, we are in danger,” Andiry Yermak, his chief of staff, said.
In his army-green tees and quarter-zips, Zelenskyy cuts a recognizable figure in his many virtual appearances at global conferences, speeches to educational institutions and visits with foreign leaders and Hollywood celebrities alike.
Time (like many others) notes that the 44-year-old former actor and comedian, who was elected president in 2019 after playing one on a TV show, relies on a unique background and set of skills to meet the current moment.
“[Zelenskyy] was adaptable, trained not to lose his nerve under pressure,” writes Time reporter Simon Shuster. “He knew how to read a crowd and react to its moods and expectations. Now his audience was the world. He was determined not to let them down.”
But the war has changed Zelenskyy too — and not just because of the physical toll it has taken. One military adviser, Oleksiy Arestovych, told Time that the president has ditched quick movements, jokes and chattiness for a more aggressive posture.
“He’s lost that actorly quality, and he’s turned into a boss,” he said.
Time isn’t only praising the president; it’s also honoring “the spirit of Ukraine” as its person of the year.
In a separate article, it credits some of the individuals who have contributed to Ukraine’s resilience and recovery, ranging from medical providers and humanitarian leaders to volunteers and journalists. While some of that support came from outside the country, the publication also honors Ukrainians themselves.
“If the choices their President articulated gave moral clarity to an era we’d mostly been scrolling through, it was people who gave it meaning, by acting,” it reads.
The publication also honored the women of Iran as 2022’s Heroes of the Year, in addition to Blackpink as Entertainer of the Year and Aaron Judge as Athlete of the Year.
[id: screenshots of tiktok captions. the images say, “but the only reason we still love princess diana is because she did not have the time to disappoint us.”]
begging queer kids to read up on princess diana’s involvement with the community. yes, she was a rich, pretty monarch. yes, she died young.
but the reason why queer people love her is because she used her privilege during the aids crisis to advocate for sick queer men, when very few others would - much less someone of her status.
diana spent years advocating for the health and care of queer people with hiv/aids. in 1987, at the height of the epidemic, she opened the first specialist clinic dedicated to treating aids patients (the first clinic of it’s kind in the uk).
she also fought public hysteria by hugging and shaking bare hands with aids patients, at a time when aids was thought to be spread by skin to skin contact. not only that, she visited patients in the clinic regularly and even comforted them through their sickness.
and when queen elizabeth told her to try focusing on “something more pleasant”?
diana ignored her and kept fighting.
and this is only her work towards the aids crisis. she publicly called out the royal family, brought attention to numerous world issues, and was known as an advocate for empathy and kindness. she’s known and loved as the people’s princess for good reason
Diana also literally walked across a minefield (through a lane cleared by the humanitarian organization HALO Trust, which she was promoting, but there was still some risk). She used the paparazzi who always followed her around to raise awareness of the plight of landmine victims in Angola, met with survivors who still talk about her visit, advocated on their behalf to the UN, and then went to other places suffering the same problem.
Her advocacy was instrumental in helping push forward a treaty to ban the use, production, and export of land mines. She was attacked by British politicians for meddling in government policy, but the Ottawa Treaty was signed by 122 countries including the UK three months after her death. One of the anti-landmine groups in which she’d been involved received the Nobel Peace Prize.
I remember the photos of her holding hands with dying AIDS patients, of her sitting by them and listening to them like fellow human beings, at a time when tolerance was radical and most people feared AIDS was transmissible by touch.
I also remember her holding HIV-positive babies, when most people were paranoid about fluids from AIDS patients— and let’s face it, babies leak. (There was a brutal subtext to criticism of Diana’s AIDS work: was she neglecting, even endangering, the heir(s) to the throne?)
Like Carrie Fisher, Diana wasn’t a perfect human being. But she did indeed use her privilege to advocate for and amplify the voices of those with none.
Kristen:I’ve worked with you a ton. But I feel like when we’ve worked together, we’re always really mean to each other. Like, always assholes. But that’s not our relationship at all. We’re very nice to each other. Adam: Yeah, super nice. Boring, nice white people. Kristen: That sounds like an accurate description of who we are as friends.
This
stunning image of the Pluto was captured from New Horizons at
about 4 p.m. EDT on July 13, about 16 hours before the moment of closest
approach. The spacecraft was 476,000 miles (766,000 kilometers) from
the surface after traveling more than 9
years and 3+ billion miles.
