during 2021–2022, zelenskyy's administration faced intense tensions with russia and president vladimir putin. this led to the launch of an ongoing full-scale russian invasion in february 2022. zelenskyy's strategy during the russian military buildup was to calm the ukrainian population and work with the international community that ukraine was not going to fight back. at first, he distanced himself from warnings of a future war, while also wanting security guarantees and military support from nato. after the start of the invasion, zelenskyy declared martial law across ukraine.