News

Zelensky thanks the ‘free world’ in a video message at the Golden Globes.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine struck a confident tone in a prerecorded video message at the Golden Globes on Tuesday, delivered as the war with Russia continues to rage, telling the audience that the “tide is turning” and thanking the “free world” for its support.

Introduced by the actor Sean Penn, who was filming a documentary in Ukraine when the war broke out and has been a vocal supporter of the country, Mr. Zelensky said the struggle was, in part, for “the right of the new generations to know about the war only from movies.”

“There will be no third world war,” Mr. Zelensky said. “It is not a trilogy. Ukraine will stop the Russian aggression on our land.”

Since the early weeks of the war, Mr. Zelensky — who was an actor before becoming a president, and then a wartime leader — has sought to use major U.S. awards shows as a platform for communicating with American audiences about the Russian invasion.

In March, his aides lobbied the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to give him a last-minute slot at the Oscars ceremony.

The appeal made headlines when Mr. Penn called for a boycott of the Oscars if Mr. Zelensky was not allowed to appear by video, and vowed to smelt his own awards in public if the academy snubbed the Ukrainian leader. Mr. Zelensky did not appear at the ceremony, and while there was no publicized smelting, Mr. Penn did hand over one of his two Oscars to Mr. Zelensky during a visit to Ukraine, calling it a symbolic gesture.

Mr. Zelensky appeared in a prerecorded speech at the Grammys in which he urged Americans to support the war effort in any way that they could.

Sarah Bahr contributed reporting.

Back to top button