Zelenskiy sworn in as President of Ukraine

Kiev: Comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy was inaugurated as the President of Ukraine on Monday, launching a new era in the war-afflicted country.

A month after scoring a landslide electoral victory against President Petro Poroshenko, the 41-year-old becomes Ukraine’s youngest post-Soviet leader.

As per tradition, Zelenskiy was given the symbols of state, including the presidential flag, seal, ceremonial collar, and mace.

So far little is known about his precise policies after a campaign that capitalised on public disillusionment with the political establishment and promised to “break the system”.

Uniquely for a first-time president, Zelenskiy has played the country's head of state before. He starred as a history teacher who was unexpectedly elected president in the comedy series “Servant of the People”.

Just a few months ago, the idea that Zelenskiy would be inaugurated for real seemed equally unlikely.

When the actor and comedian announced his candidacy on 31 December, few took it seriously, but after an unprecedented campaign largely waged through social media, he won more than 73 percent in the second round on 21 April, trouncing Poroshenko.

Poroshenko led Ukraine for five years, overseeing the fallout over Russa’s annexation of Crimea and armed conflict with Moscow-backed separatists in the country’s East that has caused some 13,000 deaths.

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Poroshenko averted complete collapse and launched a series of key reforms but was widely criticised for failing to improve Ukrainians’ living standards or effectively fight all-pervasive corruption.

Zelenskiy has vowed to continue the country’s pro-Western course but beyond that his programme is still sketchy and his team largely unknown. His critics question how he will deal with the enormous challenges of the separatist conflict and ongoing economic problems.

Also under question is whether Zelenskiy will be able to govern without a parliamentary majority.

Even setting a date for his inauguration took weeks of negotiations, with Zelenskiy exasperatedly calling lawmakers “petty crooks”.

Zelenskiy has threatened to dissolve the parliament and hold snap elections before a set date in October to benefit from his current popularity. But lawmakers are determined to thwart his efforts.

“The country needs changes and fundamental reforms,” Zelenskiy's team said in a statement on Friday.

“This is the demand of the Ukrainian people. And for that, we need a parliament that functions.”

Ukraine’s allies have given Zelenskiy a warm welcome, but one Ukrainian site specialising in international affairs, Evropeyska Pravda, suggested this was a “hug strategy” to ensure he continued to pursue a rapprochement with the West.

The new president will immediately have to deal with a number of sensitive international issues, giving him a foretaste of the challenges lying ahead.

Three days after Zelenskiy’s election, the Kremlin announced it was easing procedures for those living in the eastern separatist regions to gain Russian citizenship. Many observers in Kiev saw this as Moscow issuing a challenge to Zelensky and he strongly condemned the move.

In a sign of possible tensions between Kiev and Washington, Ukraine’s key ally against Moscow, US President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani this month cancelled a visit to Kiev, saying Zelenskiy is “surrounded by people who are enemies of the (US) president.”

The febrile political situation prompted one pro-Western lawmaker, Serguiy Vysotsky, to warn Zelenskiy that the inauguration “isn’t the end of your adventures — it’s just the beginning”.