Volodymyr Zelenskiy stepped onto a stage in Kiev after his landslide electoral victory Sunday accompanied by the theme song to the television show that made him famous.  “I love my country. I love my wife. I love my dog,” trilled the lyrics. “I am simply a person of the world, almost like Superman.”

That’s how the comedian who played the president of Ukraine on television has begun his new identity as the country’s elected leader, instead of the fictional servant of the people that he played on TV.

Zelenskiy and his team hopefully already understand that being president of one of the largest countries in Europe is no joke. Ukraine is hobbled with terrible corruption and a failing economy — facts that Ukrainians blamed incumbent Petro Poroshenko for not fixing during his five-year tenure — as well as a five-year war with Russia-backed separatists in the east.

But despite these challenges Ukrainians and their new leader can celebrate a rare and underappreciated success — a win over the Kremlin’s long battle to destabilize and factionalize Ukrainian society.