Andrew L. Urban - Zelensky : The Unlikely Ukrainian Hero Who Defied Putin and United the World

Zelensky

The Unlikely Ukrainian Hero Who Defied Putin and United the World

Andrew L. Urban and Chris McLeod

Foreword by Rebekah Koffler

I need ammunition, not a ride!

In an age where genuine heroism is so rare, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskys cri de coeur echoed around the world. Zelensky could have fled Washington had offered him a safe passage out of Kyiv but he chose to fight for his country, slim though the chances of victory were.

Days earlier, Russias Vladimir Putin had launched a brutal war on Ukraine, eager to bring the country back under Moscows yoke. The Russians closed in quickly on Kyiv, hoping to decapitate the Zelensky government that is, kill Zelensky and install a puppet regime.

But Zelensky was not deterred, even after multiple assassination attempts conducted by Putins hit squads. He rose to meet the opposition and stood firm, displaying a courage that many thought no longer existed in todays world.

Virtually unknown outside of his native Ukraine before the war, Zelensky has earned respect from his fellow Ukrainians and adoration from Western elites and ordinary citizens alike. He has displayed an indomitable spirit in a deeply unfair fight. The Russian military far outclasses the Ukrainian, but Ukrainian soldiers and volunteers have shown that spirit still counts for something on the battlefield. We havent seen this ferocious a will in Europe to push back an enemy since the Russians defended Stalingrad against German invaders in World War II.

The 44-year-old entertainer turned servant of the people Zelensky has measured up to his adversary, the staunch spymaster and Judo expert Putin. Putin, who cut his teeth as a KGB operative alongside the most brutal and devious the old Soviet Union had to offer, has used all the tricks he learned from those KGB days. And at times, Zelensky has still outmaneuvered him.

Unlike Putin, who doesnt use email and is stuck in the pre-internet era, Zelensky has proven himself an adept fighter on new, digital frontiers. Zelensky won his election in 2019 through a savvy social media campaign. In the current crisis, he has shown the world that he is a social media maestro, leading a concerted YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter effort with the grace and skill of a conductor directing his orchestra. An entertainer who is used to reading the audience, Zelensky knows what the West wants to hear. He has upstaged Putin in the information warfare department.

This talent for crafting narratives has paid dividends. Zelensky has won over the hearts of the Wests policy planners and politicians, who are eager to support the charismatic Ukrainian. Western intellectuals clamor to give Zelensky the No Fly Zone he wants, even if it means dragging the United States and NATO into a shooting war with Russia that would almost certainly escalate into a nuclear conflict. Zelensky may have won the Wests heart, but has that come at the expense of its head?

We have all come to see President Zelensky as a hero, but some of his decisions are not as straightforward as we in the West think. Zelensky, much like Ukraine itself, is filled with contradictions. The Ukrainians are a freedom-loving people but among the most corrupt in Europe. And while Zelensky declares his love for his nation, he failed to protect it from a destructive assault that may lead to scores of civilian deaths, the erasure of its borders, and the annihilation of its culture.

Is Zelensky brave or reckless? Zelensky must know that Putin will never allow Ukraine to join the Western political or military orbit without a fight. For the past 20 years, Putin has planned to reverse the outcome of the Cold War. In his mind, losing Ukraine to Western influence is not an option.

Still, Zelensky often chooses to poke the bear. With thousands of Russian soldiers amassed on his border, Zelensky made open appeals for NATO membership. Now, with Russian boots on Ukrainian soil, he goads Putin to escalate his assault, even daring the Russian to carpet-bomb Kyiv. To paraphrase a famous saying about Vietnam, Zelensky may allow his country to be destroyed in order to save it.

Is Zelensky a Ukrainian George Washington, ready to forfeit his own life to set his country on the path towards freedom? Or is his bravado driven by a performers ego and sense of drama? Perhaps a bit of both, and the balanced account that follows will help you decide what to make of this new star of geopolitics.

Rebekah Koffler

Author of Putins Playbook: Russias Secret Plan to Defeat America

As an actor and comedian, Volodymyr Zelensky made people laugh.

As President of Ukraine, a country under siege from Russia, Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the European Parliament where he was given a standing ovation and reduced a translator to tears.

President Zelenskys plea for support from Europe in the face of deadly bombardment from Vladimir Putins Russia was no laughing matter.

The man who once played the piano with his genitals for five minutes to howls of laughter pleaded for Europe and the West to stand by his still fledgling democracy as the Russian military laid siege to Ukrainian cities, killing civilians in the process.

There was one big stumbling block to the US-backed NATO alliance joining in fear of starting World War III.

President Joe Biden said he would defend NATO to the point of World War III, but that he wouldnt risk touching off a wider conflict by fighting Russia in Ukraine and ruled out establishing a no-fly zone that Russia would regard as an act of war.

President Biden told Americans: The idea that were going to send in offensive equipment and have planes and tanks and trains going in, American pilots and American crews, just understand. Dont kid yourself, no matter what you all say, thats called World War Three, okay?

One of Putins pretexts was to put down Ukraines supposed move along the path to Nazism.

His action was said to be aimed at protecting citizens in the newly recognized (by Russia) regions in the Donbas and demilitarizing and de-Nazifying Ukraine itself.

The Nazi pretext just didnt seem to hold water. To begin, far-right candidates garnered just 2% of the Ukrainian vote in 2019 elections.

More likely it was about trying to renew the old Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. And of course, Ukraines resources would be worth having iron ore, manganese, coal, bauxite, natural gas and petroleum among them. Also, Putin wasnt keen on a neighbor joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and its close ties with the West, the United States in particular. As a condition of ending the Russian advance, he demanded NATO refuse membership to Ukraine. It was increasingly unlikely Ukraines application would proceed anyway.

One of President Zelenskys first tweets (social media now a major instrument in waging war) as Russia launched its invasion on February 24, 2022 was: Russia treacherously attacked our state in the morning, as Nazi Germany did in #2WW years. As of today, our countries are on different sides of world history. (Russia) has embarked on a path of evil, but (Ukraine) is defending itself & wont give up its freedom no matter what Moscow thinks.