Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a showman and a political newcomer, was sworn in as the sixth president of Ukraine on May 20. The ceremony started in the Ukrainian parliament at 10 a.m. Kyiv time.
Here’s everything we know about what the inauguration will look like.
This story is being updated.
4:30 p.m. — See the best photos from the inauguration ceremony, selected by the Kyiv Post.
1:50 p.m — Presidential website has already changed the name of the president to Volodymyr Zelenskiy. However, the sections about the wife of the president and Presidential Administration still have the information and photos of Maryna Poroshenko, wife of former President Petro Poroshenko, and Poroshenko’s staff.
12 p.m. — “A new stage. We are ready,” Zelenskiy wrote on Instagram, sharing a happy selfie with his wife Olena Zelenska. Instagram, where Zelenskiy has 5.5 million followers, was along with Facebook an important platform during his election campaign.
“A new stage. We are ready,” Zelenskiy wrote on Instagram, sharing a happy selfie with his wife Olena Zelenska an hour after his inauguration as the sixth president of Ukraine. (Instagram/Zelenskiy_official)
11:10 a.m. — After the military ceremony, Zelenskiy is scheduled to meet with the foreign guests that came to his inauguration, including presidents of the Baltic countries, Georgia, and Hungary, as well as the Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, who represented the U.S. at the inauguration ceremony.
10:50 a.m. — After the ceremony in the parliament, Zelenskiy went to the nearby Mariinsky Palace for a ceremony of meeting the military and law enforcement leadership. As the president, Zelenskiy also becomes the commander-in-chief of the army.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy meets the heads of the military and the law enforcement in a ceremony following his inauguration as the 6th president of Ukraine.
10:45 a.m. — Zelenskiy said he dissolves the Verkhovna Rada and sets a snap election in two months. It’s not clear whether he has the right to do it.
Zelenskiy called the parliament to work on the rest of the inauguration day and adopt a number of critical laws, including the one to lift the lawmakers’ immunity from prosecution. However, the Parliament Speaker Andriy Parubiy closed off the parliament meeting after Zelenskiy was done with this address.
“It was fun,” Parubiy said, summing up the ceremony.
10:35 a.m. — “When I won the election, my six-year-old son heard on TV that Zelenskiy is the new president. He asked me, ‘Does it mean, I’m the president, too?’ And I realized it was true. Every one of us is the president. Not the 73 percent who voted for me, but all the 100 percent of Ukrainians. It’s our common victory. And from today on, we all are responsible for Ukraine. Every one of us was killed in Donbas. Every one of us is an internally displaced person. There are no right Ukrainians and wrong Ukrainians.”
“I will give the Ukrainian citizenship to everyone who is ready to be building a strong and successful Ukraine.”
“I’m ready to lose my popularity, my ratings, and my post in order to bring peace. History is unfair. We didn’t start this war but we must finish it.”
“I’m asking the parliament to fire the head of the Security Service of Ukraine and prosecutor general of Ukraine.”
Volodymyr Zelenskiy delivers his first presidential address to the nation during his inauguration on May 20 in Kyiv. (Courtesy)
Zelenskiy asked all the officials to end the tradition of having the president’s photo in all public offices.
“A president is not an icon,” he said. “Don’t put up my portrait. Put up photos of your children instead. And look them in the eyes before every decision you make.”
10:30 a.m. — Zelenskiy began his address to the nation, the most anticipated part of the ceremony.
“We decided we’re going to Europe. But Europe isn’t somewhere there. Europe is here,” he said, pointing to his head.
10:25 a.m. — Zelenskiy was sworn in and received the ceremonial symbols of the presidential power: the presidential flag, the seal, a ceremonial collar, and the presidential bulawa — a blunt mace serving as a symbol of high authority of Ukrainian Cossack leaders, hetmans, in the 16th-17th centuries. He also received an official identity document confirming his service.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy lifts the presidential bulawa, a Cossack mace, one of the ceremonial symbols of the presidential power, during his inauguration on May 20. (UA:Pershiy)
10:20 a.m. — Zelenskiy read out the oath to serve Ukraine, his hand on the Constitution and the Peresopnytsia Gospel, a 16th-century manuscript traditionally used for presidential inaugurations.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy holds his hand on the Peresopnytsia Gospel and the Constitution of Ukraine as he is taking the oath to serve Ukraine during the inauguration ceremony on May 20.
10:13 a.m. — Zelenskiy entered the Verkhovna Rada session hall and took the place at the rostrum. The ceremony opened with the national anthem. Tetiana Slipachuk, the head of the Central Election Commission, read out the results of the April 21 election.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy walks the aisle towards the parliament’s rostrum to be sworn in as the president of Ukraine on May 20, 2019.
10:02 a.m. — The inauguration ceremony began with the Parliament Speaker Andriy Parubiy announcing the guests of the ceremony. Four out of five former presidents are present, including Petro Poroshenko. The one absent is the disgraced ex-President Viktor Yanukovych, who lives in Russia and is wanted in Ukraine for treason.
Zelenskiy’s parents and wife Olena Zelenska sit next to the first President Leonid Kravchuk.
Among the foreign guests, there are presidents of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, and Georgia. The United States are represented by Secretary of Energy Rick Perry. Poland is represented by Jacek Czaputowicz, the foreign minister.
9:58 a.m. — Zelenskiy walked towards the parliament through a corridor of his supporters in Mariinsky Park. He shook hands and stopped to get a selfie on someone’s phone, red carpet-style.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy stops to take a selfie with a supporter as he walks towards the parliament building to be inaugurated as Ukraine’s 6th president. (UA:Pershiy)
9:50 a.m. — Three rehearsals of the inauguration took place, according to a report by 1+1 TV channel.
Zelenskiy, who at 41-years-old is the youngest president-elect, will reportedly be the first one to have his parents present at his inauguration ceremony. He will also be the first president of Ukraine to be sworn in by a woman, the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Natalia Shaptala.
9:45 a.m. — Read the farewell address of President Petro Poroshenko as he is about to leave office.
9:40 a.m. — All the streets surrounding the so-called “governmental quarter” in central Kyiv have been closed off since Sunday, May 19. The area houses many government office, including the parliament, where Zelenskiy will be sworn in, and the presidential administration, where he is expected to go after the ceremony.
Arsenalna metro station is closed off, too.
A scheme released by the National Police shows which streets will be closed off in Kyiv on the day of Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s inauguration as president on May 20.
9:30 a.m. — Journalists have been lining up near the parliament’s main entrance since the early morning, waiting for the arrival of Zelenskiy.
The main entrance to Ukraine’s parliament is seen on the early morning of May 20, hours before the President-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrives here to be sworn in as Ukraine’s 6th president. (Volodymyr Petrov)
Journalists line up near the parliament building on May 20, hours before Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s inauguration. (Volodymyr Petrov)
