Serhiy Prytula asks to meet me at St Andrew’s church, an 18th-century landmark with green and gold onion domes at the top of Kyiv’s most picturesque street. I am puzzled as to why. It is only a short walk to his preferred restaurant in the Ukrainian capital. But the answer soon becomes clear. Prytula is a showman who adores the spotlight. As we stroll to our destination, he turns the head of every person we pass.
For Ukrainians, the 41-year-old was already a television star, comedy actor and host for the national stage of the Eurovision Song Contest. Now he has become one of the most prominent figures in their liberation struggle against Russian invaders. He is the country’s other comedian turned wartime leader: Volodymyr Zelenskyy is president and Ukraine’s top military commander; Prytula has become a sort of chief volunteer and fundraiser-extraordinaire for the army.
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