General Discussions

[ElwoodBlues1]

The UOC is the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) and is closely aligned with Putin's Russian Orthodox Church.  The OCU, Orthodox Church of Ukraine, was granted ecclesial independence by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in 2019, giving it control of the branches of the Orthodox church in Ukraine including the UOC.  I think that you'll find that it's the OCU that has been assisting the Ukrainian Army and the UOC that's resisting the OCU and supporting the Russians.

While Zelensky was best known for his satirical comedy, he is a lawyer from a family of high achievers and intellectuals. I don't think anyone saw him as a buffoon.

Zelenksy had an approval rating of just 31% when elected , he was a humourist/showman with no prior experience in public administration and got elected because the previous administration under Poroshenko was corrupt/hopeless and the public wanted him out and anything else was better than what they had. His political promises were just the typical populist carp and lets keep it accurate he was a legal graduate..he never worked a day as a professional practicing lawyer. Both the West and the East had their doubts on him being able to do the job.
The funny thing is he is best known for his role as an actor playing an ordinary man who accidentally becomes president of Ukraine in the TV series "Servant of the People". He also played the voice of Paddington Bear in the Ukrainian version.....I remember reading and enjoying the Paddington books when I was at school so he gets a tick from me .
Putin was another legal grad but of course went on to perform a not so comical role in the KGB making people disappear being his speciality. Credit to Zelensky he has proven to be a brave and smart worldly political operator and his approval rating is about as good as it gets for a Prez peaking at 90% but that wasnt the initial thoughts about him.
Zelenksy's father was an Electrical Engineer ...they are usually high achievers and intellectuals... 8)