Surveyed readers of U.S.-based Time news magazine gave a plurality of their votes to select President Volodymyr Zelensky as the most influential person among 100 notable people of the year in the publication’s annual list.
Ukraine’s 44-year-old, second war-time president came in first with 3.3 million votes, or 5 percent of the overall vote, Time magazine said on May 19.
In April, Zelensky gave an exclusive interview to Time in which he spoke of being thrust from being a former comedian to that of a president in 2019 while withstanding Russia’s renewed invasion of the country.
Kremlin autocrat Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of the country on Feb. 24 in a war that is the biggest on the European continent since World War II. Thousands of people have been killed, more than 13 million have been displaced, and Kyiv officials say 1.2 million more have been forcibly deported to mainland Russia from occupied territories.
In second place of the publication’s reader poll was Tesla and SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk, with 3.5 percent of the vote. He was the previous year’s namesake of Person of the Year.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson came in third with 3.4 percent of the vote. His government has provided Ukraine with billions dollars of military and financial assistance.
Next were medical health workers whose dedication to their profession has helped stop the spread of COVID-19 – they received 3.2 percent of votes.
Time magazine editors will ultimately decide who is included on the 100-influential list and it will be released on May 23.
