US magazine Time has named Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and "the spirit of Ukraine" as its Person of the Year for 2022.

The magazine made the announcement on Wednesday.

It notes that Zelenskyy decided not to flee Kyiv but to stay and rally support in the weeks after Russian bombs began falling on February 24.

Time says the Ukrainian leader set off "a wave of action that swept the globe" by delivering daily speeches remotely to the world and other means, in what it calls the president's "information offensive."

The magazine says, "The spirit of Ukraine was embodied by countless individuals inside and outside the country."

Specifically, it cites a Ukrainian chef "who provided over a thousand free meals a day to refugees," as well as a British surgeon who "has traveled multiple times to Ukraine to train local doctors in how to treat war wounds."

Time's editor in chief says Zelenskyy and the spirit of Ukraine proved that "courage can be as contagious as fear" and reminded the world of the fragility of democracy and peace.

Time has chosen the world's most influential person or group every year since 1927..