'It'll be difficult' for Zelensky to 'meet expectations': expert Political analyst and director of the Penta Center Volodymyr Fessenko says it will be 'difficult' for newly elected Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to 'meet expectations' and forecasts a drop in his popularity. Zelensky, whose only previous political role was playing the president in a TV show, trounced incumbent Petro Poroshenko in Sunday's election in a stinging rebuke to the establishment fueled by anger over war and social injustice. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES of Volodymyr Fesenko