A viral photograph which has turned Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy into an international war hero is actually a year old – and was taken during peace time.
The image of the pin-up president dressed in combat gear has been shared by thousands of people worldwide since the war with Russia erupted on Friday.
His courage in the face of the mighty Russian onslaught has been praised worldwide as he leads his nation in the fight of its life against President Vladimir Putin.
Media personality Todd Sampson used the image to compare President Zelenskyy’s response to the Russian invasion with Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s Hawaiian holiday at the height of the 2019 Black Summer bushfires.
But the reality is that the inspiring photograph was actually taken long before Russian tanks headed for Kyiv – and he’s shown far greater bravery since.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiyy has become an international war hero over this picture of him visiting troops in the Donbass region last year
Australian media personality Todd Sampson sparked heated debate online after comparing Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Scott Morrison in this tweet (pictured)
The picture of the former comedian turned politician wearing a bulletproof vest and striding purposefully while casually carrying his combat helmet was actually taken on April 9, 2021.
It was snapped by an official photographer during a routine trip to visit armed forces near the frontline with Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine’s Donbass region, with war still nearly a year away.
The president has since won over the world with the way he has stared down Russia as Putin threatens to take over his country and hunt him down.
President Zelenskiyy has repeatedly been seen in the midst of the action, even taking tea with his troops on the frontline as they repelled the Russian invaders (pictured)
President Zelenskiyy has refused offers from Western governments to spirit him out of the country to safety, and insisted he will stay to fight alongside his countrymen.
He has repeatedly been seen in the midst of the action, even taking tea with his troops on the frontline as they repelled the Russian invaders.
On Monday it was reported Putin has now recruited a gang of 400 hired Russian killers based in Africa to track him down and execute him.
A private militia known as the Wagner Group allegedly has personal orders from Putin to take out Zelenskyy – and 23 other government figures – to allow Moscow to finally take over its neighbour.
Wagner Group (pictured in Syria) has conducted covert operations across Africa and the Middle East, including in Syria, and are now said to be targeting the Ukraine president
According to the Times, the army-for-hire, run by oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin – a close ally of the Russian president who is often dubbed ‘Putin’s chef’ – was flown in five weeks ago and is being offered a huge sum for the mission.
The highly-trained operatives are said to be waiting for the green light from the Kremlin to pounce, with their hit list also including Ukraine’s prime minister, the entire cabinet, mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko and his brother Wladimir – both boxing champions who have become iconic figures on the front lines of the capital.
However the plans were rumbled after they reached the upper echelons of the Ukrainian government on Saturday morning.
It prompted Kyiv to declare a 36-hour ‘hard’ curfew, ordering everyone indoors so that soldiers could sweep the streets for Russian saboteurs.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy (pictured) has posted daily video messages to his countrymen, raising morale and telling them to have faith in their country
Citizens were warned that they risked being ‘liquidated’ if they were spotted outside during the curfew hours, as they may be assumed to be the enemy.
A source with knowledge of the Wagner Group’s activities said between 2,000 and 4,000 mercenaries had arrived in Ukraine in January, but with different missions.
Some were sent to the rebel-held regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in the east of the country – while the 400 tasked with taking out Zelenskyy headed to Kyiv from Belarus.
The group are said to be tracking Zelesnkyy and his colleagues via their mobile phones and claim to know where they are at all times.
Another source claimed the killers-for-hire have been told to put the brakes on while Putin holds ‘peace talks’ with Zelenskyy this week.
But they have allegedly been told the Russian leader has no desire to reach a deal, branding the meeting on the Belarus border as ‘smoke and mirrors.’
News of their assassination plans has not seemed to faze Zelenskyy, who admitted he was ‘target number one’ during an address to the nation, telling them Russian special forces were hunting him.
A fragment of a destroyed Russian tank is seen on the roadside on the outskirts of Kharkiv on February 26, 2022
Dramatic video shows a destroyed Russian convoy with Z-markings near Kherson in southern Ukraine
His wife Olena, 44, and two children, aged 17 and nine, are in hiding – but still in the country – amid fears the Kremlin wants to wipe out or imprison Ukraine’s entire political class.
President Zelenskyy later shared footage of himself and other senior members of his party walking the streets of Kyiv as they prepared to fight Russian troops.
When the US offered to extract him, he told President Joe Biden: ‘I need ammunition, not a ride.’
Wagner has conducted covert operations across Africa and the Middle East, including in Syria, and they have most recently been on the ground in Ukraine to guide Russian tanks to the capital.
Despite inferior military power, Ukraine has put up an incredible fight, with experts saying Russia will run out of cash and arms if Kyiv (pictured) can hold out for 10 days
General Sir Richard Barrons, a former commander of Joint Forces Command, said: ‘They are very effective because they are hard to pin down.
‘They can appear from the shadows, do very violent things and then disappear again, without it being obvious who was responsible. They are not directly linked to the Russian government and therefore they are plausibly deniable.’
Sources told the Times the militia was briefed about Putin’s plans on Ukraine back in December, long before the Russian army was told.
Soldiers and generals were feared to oppose the invasion plans, and several have been executed for doing so, claimed the mercenaries.
In a video address on Saturday night, President Zelenskyy vowed: ‘We will fight as long as it takes to liberate the country.’
He said a baby girl was born Saturday night in the Kyiv subway tunnels, which are being used as a bomb shelter.
‘If children are born in shelters, even when the shelling continues, then the enemy has no chance,’ he said. ‘To Victory! Glory to Ukraine!’
President Zelenskyy has pledged to ‘destroy the occupiers’ and the residents of Kyiv appear to have fully mobilised for a fight to the death.
As they hunkered down in air raid shelters, teams of civilians worked through the night making Molotov cocktails to use against the Russian forces.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, 44, has won praise for his defiance in refusing to leave Kyiv
Despite holding inferior military power, Ukraine has put up an incredible fight, with experts saying Russia will run out of cash and arms if Kyiv can hold out for 10 days.
President Zelenskyy took to Instagram yesterday to hail the Daily Mail for its coverage of Ukraine.
Alongside the post, he wrote: ‘The whole world knows the truth. All the world hears it. The entire world is behind us and we can feel it.’
It comes as two Russian billionaires became the first powerful oligarchs to speak out and call for an end to the conflict.
Mikhail Fridman, who was born in western Ukraine, and Oleg Deripaska have condemned Putin’s invasion by calling for peace talks ‘as fast as possible’ between the two countries in an unusual intervention from Russia’s leading business elite.
Billionaire Mikhail Fridman (pictured), who was born in western Ukraine, said the war was a ‘tragedy’ for both countries
Oleg Deripaska (pictured) has also condemned Putin’s invasion by calling for peace talks ‘as fast as possible’ in an unusual intervention from Russia’s leading business elite
Mr Fridman, who is a co-founder of Russia’s largest private bank Alfa and controls private equity firm LetterOne, called for the ‘bloodshed’ to end.
The 57-year-old, who was ranked as the 128th richest person in the world by Forbes in 2021, also said the war was a ‘tragedy’ for both countries’ people and told LetterOne staff in a letter that the conflict was driving a wedge between the two eastern Slav peoples of Russia and Ukraine, who have been brothers for centuries.
He wrote: ‘I was born in Western Ukraine and lived there until I was 17. My parents are Ukrainian citizens and live in Lviv, my favourite city.
‘But I have also spent much of my life as a citizen of Russia, building and growing businesses. I am deeply attached to the Ukrainian and Russian peoples and see the current conflict as a tragedy for them both.’
Meanwhile billionaire Mr Deripaska – who is the founder of Russian aluminium giant Rusal in which he still owns a stake via his shares in its parent company En+ Group – used a post on Telegram to called for peace talks to begin ‘as fast as possible’.
The 54-year-old simply said: ‘Peace is very important.’
Russia’s so-called oligarchs, who once exercised significant influence over President Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s, are facing economic chaos after the West imposed severe sanctions on Russia over Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
