Kiev

The campaigning for the first round of the presidential election in Ukraine has just ended. It’s March 30 and I’m in a seafood restaurant near St. Sophia’s Cathedral with a small man in a black T-shirt, his voice a bit hoarse, overflowing with high-octane energy. Volodymyr Zelensky is still a little-known comedian. He will shock the world tomorrow by coming in far ahead in the first round of voting.

I...