Ukraine’s Leader to Outdo Putin With All-Day Press ‘Marathon’

(Bloomberg) -- Having already topped Vladimir Putin’s legendary approval rating, Ukraine’s new leader is taking aim at his Russian counterpart’s hours-long press conferences.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office announced that he’ll speak to journalists for the entire day on Thursday, starting at 10 a.m. in a Kyiv food court. Reporters, who’ve complained that the president hasn’t held a news conference since his inauguration in May, will question him in groups changing every half hour.

It may be more than a stunt by the former TV comic, who has plenty to discuss.

The world continues to hang on developments in the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump, which stems from a phone call back in July with Zelenskiy. On top of that, there’s controversy at home over the latest efforts to end the war in Ukraine’s east. And there are lingering suspicions about the president’s ties to a local billionaire.

The time could fly by.

--With assistance from Daryna Krasnolutska.

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Langley in London at alangley1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrea Dudik at adudik@bloomberg.net, Balazs Penz

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