At the beginning of his presidency, Vladimir Zelensky was completely inexperienced in politics, which is why he was not properly assessed.

Axar.az reports that this was stated by former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in an interview with the Financial Times.

He noted that his first meeting with Zelensky took place a few weeks after his election, in June 2019:

"I liked him, but he was inexperienced and asked the basic questions. I underestimated him completely."

Stoltenberg mentioned that when Russia's large-scale invasion began, Russian forces were close to capturing the Ukrainian president.