explosion for weeks, volodomyr zelensky has been leading from the front as ukraine resists russia's invasion. explosion comforting the war�*s many victims, berating ukraine's enemies...

..and demanding more from her allies. sobs a war that was supposed to last days has now lasted months. russia's advance has stalled, and in places it has been pushed back. applause president zelensky is now lauded as the man of this moment. i think your leadership has been extraordinary. but it wasn't always like this. before the russian attack, questions were being asked as to whether zelensky, a former comedian, really had what it takes to lead ukraine.

in 2019, i was very sad, it was like a tragedy knowing that zelensky could become president of ukraine. i wouldn't say he had policies, he had directions that he wanted to go in, but how to do that, i think he was really trying to learn on the job. hi, jonah, nice to meet you. i first met volodymyr zelensky in january of 2019. he was just a comedian and an actor, a jokey, fun guy, a celebrity, of course, and a real star here in ukraine. it was the start of his political journey and, for me, as the bbc�*s correspondent here in ukraine, a fascinating time. i've had a front row seat as zelensky has gone from a political novice to leading ukraine's fight for survival against russia. happy birthday. thank you. do you know we are almost the same age?

i am about to be 41 as well, unfortunately i am not running for president. laughs who knows? nobody knows. 25th of january, 2019, volodymyr zelensky turns a1. it is also the birthday of one of the most extraordinary stories in modern politics. in the centre of kyiv, ukraine's most famous comedian and actor is signing papers to officially become a candid for presidency. none of us in the press pack outside are quite sure whether we're part of a joke that we've not been let into or whether it is something more sincere. as it turns out, for perhaps the first time in his life, zelensky was being serious. but asked to spell out his policies, it all seemed a bit vague.

0n ukraine's existential issue, russia, for example, he seemed to think that foreign investors might deter an attack. the campaign was now on, but zelensky was still making tv shows. he laughs we were invited back to the offices of his production company, kvartal 95, for a look behind the scenes. this is where you film your comedy shows? yes, yes, not only comedy shows, everything on tv. we have documentary, dramas, movies, we have two big satire shows, you know, political satire. the first stage is where we create the ideas,

the guys are sitting here, they are the chiefs of different groups, so we have many scriptwriters, different humour. they speak about their ideas and i am the decision—maker. so you are deciding whether their ideas are funny or not? yes, yes. 0uraudience, especially tv audience, yes, it is a little bit older than, for example, movie audience in feature films. what sort of humour do people like here, if you were to compare it to british humour? we love british humour. he laughs for example, for example. he speaks in ukranian "if compare." if compare in britain, if compare, our people, they more understand, for example, mr bean or benny hill. benny hill! yeah, yeah. really? so you're sort of looking for benny hill—mr bean type jokes, rather than the more kind of surreal monty python stuff? yes. he sings

for over 25 years, i only thought about him as a comedian, a professional comedian, a good one, quite popular in ukraine, but nothing more. yarema dukh is a political consultant and used to work for zelensky�*s predecessor as president, petro poroshenko. in ukrainian entertainment business, volodomyr zelensky was a huge star. i think he had like 95%—plus of recognition among average ukrainians, so i would say that everybody knew him. a big star but unashamedly populist, too, and very much not to the taste of yarolav hrytsak, a historian at lviv�*s catholic university. i would say that most intellectuals would not hear or listen to him that much.

it was the much broader public. for what, kind of smuttyjokes? some of them very smutty and some you may say you wouldn't show to your kids under 18, so to say. pop music plays but he was recognisable, he was nude playing on the piano. and you could imagine with what part of his body. piano music plays he covered a very wide spectrum, so to say, but the point is that some of the jokes were extremely crude. crude? yeah, and therefore his enemies, his opponents, they used to show this clip as proof that he is not capable to do any political activities. singing zelensky�*s movies and sketch shows made him famous, but one role more than any other paved the way for his presidential run. he made a tv sitcom where his hero was a simple, young teacher of history

who was sick and tired of the politics and decided to go to power, and he became a president. so before he became a real president, he was president on tv, and people liked this image very much. vasily holoborodko, the character zelensky played, was everything that ukraine's real presidents hadn't been up until that point. taras stadnytskyi is a peer of zelensky from ukraine's comedy circuit. when i interviewed zelensky in 2019, he accepted some might vote for him in the hope of getting the fictional

president. with the benefit of hindsight, there are those who now wonder whether the servant of the people tv show was created with a real presidential run in mind. applause zelensky�*s political party is called servant

of the people, just like the tv show, and 0lena shuliak is the head of it. when she first entered politics, she tells me she hastily watched the series for research purposes. are there many similarities between the real president zelensky and the tv president?

applause zelensky�*s sketch shows, broadcast in prime—time, lampooned ukraine's political class — like his predecessor, president poroshenko, who owed his fortune to a sweet shop chain. with zelensky having jumped in the political deep end, the election campaign was unlike anything ukraine had seen before. zelensky held no rallies and his message was entirely communicated through slick videos of him working out and hanging out. it all felt like an extension

of his tv shows. it was quite surprising that the man who is on the stage feels like at home, he hardly campaigned, he gave no interviews, it was super hard to see him on some public rallies. he only shoot videos, posted it online, and the rest? it was the work of his team. the less he did, the more popular he became, and when the time came to vote, zelensky was odds on favourite. are you ready to be president? i don't know! the people will decide it in the evening. i'm ready. that night, ukraine's political earthquake was confirmed. zelensky had won with 73% of the vote. so, there we have it, fact will follow fiction. ukraine's television president

is now going to become this country's real president. incredible. i think that president poroshenko's team expected to see some other old politicians who they were familiar with, but to be defeated by the guy who literally were joking about you a year before? that's unbearable. for reformers like hanna hopko, the triumph of a completely unknown quantity like zelensky was hard to comprehend. in 2019, i was very sad. it was a tragedy knowing that zelensky could become a president of ukraine, a country which faced russian ongoing aggression, so i was really afraid, chairing the foreign affairs committee, having access to classified information, and just understanding that zelensky could become a president of ukraine. but then i met my spiritual

friends and they told me, "hanna, please, let's trust god," because i trust god that he has a special purpose for ukraine in 21st century, so let's see. in his speech to parliament, immediately after having been sworn in, zelensky focused on what had been his number one election promise — to end the war with russian—backed forces in eastern ukraine. he basically believed —

and i believe, he really believed that — that the war was going on because of poroshenko, because poroshenko doesn't want to finish the war, because poroshenko is corrupted, and corruption is. ....war creates very profitable conditions for corruption, so to say. he didn't really see the real cause of the problem is not poroshenko but putin. there were some early signs that this new approach might bearfruit. a prisoner exchange took place, with zelensky on hand at the airport to welcome the captives home. we have to do all the steps to finish this horrible war. do you think this is a new chapter in relations between russia and ukraine? i think this is the first chapter. kurt volker was an american envoy to ukraine, and i travelled with him to the conflict zone in 2018. he says that in zelensky�*s first few months in power, he believed he could do a deal with russia's president. i remember even ourfirst

meetings saying "i understand you want peace, but putin doesn't want peace". this is what he wants to do, he is attacking ukraine on purpose. it is not for lack of some formula, he is doing it because he is trying to weaken ukraine. i think he was initially sceptical of that, but i think as he tried to talk with putin, tried to do a couple of prisoner exchanges, i think he came to the view that actually putin is fighting a war that he wants to fight. later that year, the only meeting between zelensky and president putin took place in paris, with the leaders of france and germany acting as chaperones. but the talks were frosty and went nowhere. paris was the endpoint for zelensky�*s attempts to strike a deal. until this war broke out, zelensky�*s time as president was showing some signs of fizzling out.

he'd promised a lot and, perhaps understandably, was struggling to deliver on it. his once sky—high ratings in the opinion polls were starting to fall. close allies from the election campaign — zelensky called them his "dream team" — turned on him within a year. comedian brought incompetent people, who now run major government institutions. 0r misrun major government institutions. therefore you cannot achieve results, that's it. so the optimism, the hope of change that existed a year ago, that's over? i would say — look, i would say many things are over, for example promises, by the way, another promise of his was fighting with oligarchs, it's over. i think reforms, the window of opportunity has closed. ruslan ryaboshapka was sacked as attorney—general after just seven months — he says for pushing too hard to tackle

corruption and the powerful oligarchs. or perhaps he became tired with all this reform and decided to be in a more comfortable situation. it was bad news and a bad discussions with the so—called reformers, and he chose another option to be, like in warm bath. you are saying effectively he chose the side of the oligarchs over the side of the reformers? absolutely, it looks like that. eventually, zelensky did try and take some targeted measures against particular oligarchs. but his critics saw it as too little, too late. zelensky was too timid, then he passed this anti—oligarch law that targeted individuals, rather than changing the structure of the system, and that was perceived

as unfair by many of them, and so it never really got off the ground. 0n the international stage, zelensky had to learn fast. he found himself caught up in donald trump's attempts to use american military aid to get ukraine to investigate his rival, joe biden. for zelensky, it was important to generate more support for ukraine and not to be a part of domestic political games so, of course, lack of experience could create some problems at that time, but this is how he learned what international policy is, and how not to be in the trap — how to diplomatically present ukraine, but not to be used for the interests of somebody. with rumours of impeachment hearings mounting, zelensky met trump in new york. his acting skills, for once, deserted him.

because of the dynamic in the united states, president trump kept the meeting going in front of the cameras, for about 45 minutes or so, so very difficult to have a serious conversation between two leaders of countries when you are doing so much of it in front of the media. i think zelensky handled it well, and i think wasjust saying, "0k, we've got to get through this period and then let's see if we can resume a normal relationship again". air raid siren wails. then, on 24th february, everything changed, with the start of the russian invasion. a man who had turned to politics just three years before was now facing down the world's second—most powerful army.

this war has brought out the very best in volodymyr zelensky. whereas president putin has come across as aloof and distant, zelensky has seemed very much relatable and down—to—earth. staying with his people in kyiv, and staying in touch with video messages. the updates, delivered straight to social media,

have enabled zelenksy to speak directly to ukrainians and people around the world. at times, the news has been almost unspeakably bleak. through it all, zelensky has sought to raise spirits and to inspire hope.

we have young, smart charismatic personalities, who deliver simple messages, who basically tell the truth. and then you see putin, who is ageing, who is hiding somewhere, who has this long table, and nobody knows what he is thinking. russian tv and the kremlin have resorted to hurling unsubstantiated insults towards kyiv. this guy has a nerve, i mean zelensky, he has balls. because the thing is, the first days, it was a disaster it was stress, it was depression. and all of a sudden you see somebody who behaves very different, and he is the president of your country, and this works immensely on ukrainians.

before this war, zelensky struggled to get invites to western capitals. now, barely a day passes without him addressing a parliament or international organisation. the message follows a set path — showing the full horrors of russia's war on ukraine, and then demanding that the outside world do more to equip his country to resist. everybody saw the picture of zelensky in bucha. and can you imagine such a picture of putin? never. zelensky often visits hospitals to see wounded soldiers. he is also visiting ukrainian families. you can get access to president zelensky.

you could see him everywhere. the first chapters of the zelensky story are far—fetched — a comedian and tv president leading a country at war. russia's size and might mean the odds are still stacked against ukraine, but given what has happened to volodymyr zelensky so far, anything is possible.

hello, there. cloud was the main weather feature for many places on bank holiday monday, and we take lots of that cloud with us into tuesday. the cloud showing up here on our earlier satellite picture. it is low cloud. it's turning things quite misty and murky in places, and there are some weak frontal systems just providing enough impetus to give a little bit of rain and drizzle, here and there. but a mostly cloudy start to tuesday, some spots of rain and drizzle around, and where things brighten up, perhaps most especially

in southern england and wales, where we see some sunshine, we will also see some scattered heavy showers and the odd thunderstorm breaking out into the afternoon. many spots will stay quite cloudy. rather cool for some north sea coasts. ten degrees for aberdeen and newcastle, 16 for cardiff, 17 in london, and we see some showery rain into northern ireland through the afternoon. that will push across a good part of scotland through the evening, and then getting down into parts of england and wales through the early hours of wednesday. but the rain, quite fragmented, quite hit and miss. there'll still be some lengthy dry spells, a mild start to wednesday morning. those outbreaks of rain brought about by this very weak frontal system. it's running into relatively high pressure, so that means it's certainly not going to be a wash—out. the rain, very hit and miss, very sporadic. some showery bursts of rain tending to clear eastwards. then we'll see some sunshine on wednesday, some brighter skies, generally, but quite a few showers, some of which will be heavy and thundery. it will be a warmer day, highs, for many, between 15—19 degrees. and that theme continues, as we head towards the end

of the week. high pressure building to the south, frontal systems running to the north—west of the uk, and this broadly south—westerly flow of air bringing some rather warm conditions in our direction. so, thursday looks like this. much of england and wales will be dry, with some sunny spells and just the odd shower. northern ireland and scotland seeing more cloud and some splashes of rain at times, but not all the time. but the temperatures, 15 degrees there for glasgow, 16 for belfast, but 21 in london, maybe somewhere towards the south east getting to 22 degrees. now, on friday, there'll some warmth once again towards the south east of the uk. but this band of rain looks like it will make some progress southwards, and behind that, something just a little bit cooler and fresher. so, temperatures of 12 degrees for stornoway, but 20 the high in london.

welcome to bbc news. i'm david eades. our top stories: russian attacks resume on mariupol�*s steel works, despite hundreds of ukrainian civilians remaining trapped inside. those who've escaped tell their story. translation: for a month we were eating - _ over a0 of us — six food tins. we boiled two buckets of soup out of them, and that was it for the whole day. a special report from the balkans on beijing's big european investment push, with accusations some chinese firms are treating workers like slaves. an alarming rise in executions in iran since the hardline cleric ebrahim raisi was elected president. and broadway is back with its busiest season in more than a decade, but covid is still proving a challenge.