Zelensky Profile of the Causal Syrian President: From France to the Middle East, Towards a More Humane World
Editor’s Note: Michael Bociurkiw (@WorldAffairsPro) is a global affairs analyst currently based in Odesa. He is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and used to be with the Organization for Security and Collaboration in Europe. He contributes to CNN Opinion. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. You can read more opinion at CNN.
“He is probably more comfortable than Putin on camera, too, both as an actor and as a digital native,” she added. Zelensky is doing a better job of balancing authority with accessibility, but I think both of them want to come across as personable.
In Paris, I watched as Zelensky pulled up in a small car to the lysée Palace, while Putin was chauffeured in a limo. (The host, French President Emmanuel Macron, hugged Putin but chose only to shake hands with Zelensky).
Fast forward to 2022 and Zelensky is the instantly recognizable wartime president in trademark olive green; as adept at rallying his citizens and stirring the imaginations of folks worldwide, as naming and shaming allies dragging their feet in arming his military.
Failure to demonstrate further progress on the battlefield with billions of dollars worth of military kit could stir unease among Western backers. But capitulation to Russia would be a political death sentence.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/19/opinions/volodomyr-zelensky-profile-ukraine-russia-bociurkiw/index.html
Velodomyr Zelensky: From a scrappy kid to a leader in the midst of a war: The tale of his life and death
Zelensky’s upbringing in the rough and tumble neighborhoods of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine shaped him into a scrappy kid who learned how to respond to bullies.
“After the full-scale invasion, once he got into a position of being bullied by someone like Vladimir Putin he knew exactly what he needed to do because it was just his gut feeling,” Yevhen Hlibovytsky, former political journalist and founder of the Kyiv-based think tank and consultancy, pro.mova, told me.
When Russia launched a full-scale invasion as the US offered to evacuate, this leader joked that he needed “ammunition, not a ride”.
Amid the fog of war, it all seems a long, long way since the heady campaign celebration in a repurposed Kyiv nightclub where a fresh-faced Zelensky thanked his supporters for a landslide victory. He looked confused when he stood on stage and saw that he had defeated a veteran politician.
The war appears to have turned his ratings around. Just days after the invasion, Zelensky’s ratings approval surged to 90%, and remain high to this day. Zelensky was given high marks by Americans for his handling of international affairs compared to US President Joe Biden.
His previous career was in comedy and he included a lot of people from it in his bubble. Even in the midst of the war, a press conference held on the platform of a Kyiv metro station in April featured perfect lighting and curated camera angles to emphasize a wartime setting.
As for his skills as comforter in chief, I remember well the solace his nightly televised addresses brought in the midst of air raid sirens and explosions in Lviv.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/19/opinions/volodomyr-zelensky-profile-ukraine-russia-bociurkiw/index.html
The Changing Face of Foreign Policy: Why Vladimir Zelensky is So Abrupt About His Home Country and Why the West Will Always Agree
Zelensky is projecting confidence and competence to a younger, global audience that recognizes it as such by wearing T-shirts and hoodies, according to a fashion historian.
Zelenska has shown she is an effective communication tool when traveling to where her husband doesn’t. Most recently, she met with King Charles during a visit to a refugee assistance center at the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Family in London. Zelenska was not on the cover of Time magazine, but a passing reference was given to her in the supporting text.
Despite the strong tailwinds at Zelensky’s back, there are subtle signs that his international influence could be dwindling. For example, last week, in what analysts called a pivotal moment in geopolitics, the G7 imposed a $60 a barrel price cap on Russian crude – despite pleas from Zelensky that it should have been set at $30 in order to inflict more pain on the Kremlin.
Within Ukraine, the economy continues to stumble from the impact of war and persistent missile and drone attacks on critical power infrastructure – including at least 76 strikes on Friday. Millions of Ukrainians are experiencing a lack of heat, electricity and water during the winter. If the Ukrainians are able to defeat Russia in two or five years, they will be able to endure hardship for another two to five years.
Victory will surely depend on the West maintaining a united front against Russia. Zelensky and his advisers have been warning Western leaders that the security of their own countries could be in danger if they do not push back against Putin.
“Paradoxically, Zelensky achieved the thing that Putin most wanted to achieve but failed … to rally support domestically with a patriotic war in order to deflect and distract from his abject failures at home. I spoke to Michael Popow, a New York-based geopolitics and business analyst, and he said that Putin was pained when a comedian showed up.
Zelensky said in a recent nightly video address that when the world is truly united, it is the world that decides how events develop.
The Kremlin was quick to criticize Zelenskyy’s trip to the US, which included securing billions of dollars in U.S. aid and standing ovations in Congress.
The Biden administration announced on Wednesday it would provide an additional $1.85 billion in military assistance to Ukraine, including, for the first time, a Patriot Air Defense System. Since the beginning of the war, it’s one of the most expensive and advanced defense systems supplied by the U.S.
On the 301st day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin’s spokesman stated that the new equipment wouldn’t affect the conflict at all or prevent the Russians from achieving their goals.
He said there had been no calls for peace or signs of willingness to “listen to Russia’s concerns” during Zelenskyy’s visit, which he said proves that the U.S. is fighting a proxy war with Russia “to the last Ukrainian,” Reuters reports.
Russia has accused the Western nations of making the conflict into a proxy war before. Iran has acknowledged that it provided military drones to Russia.
The line has been a hit in Russia, with most of the public buying it according to a Russian history professor.
“You could say that the majority of Russian people, although they are weary of the conflict, they still see this as an existential struggle between Russia and the West in which Ukraine is being played for a pawn,” he tells NPR’s Morning Edition.
It was warned last week that the missile delivery toUkraine would be provocative and could prompt a Russian increase in military activity.
“Patriots are a defensive weapons system that will help Ukraine defend itself as Russia sends missile after missile and drone after drone to try and destroy Ukrainian infrastructure and kill Ukrainian civilians,” she said. Russia should stop sending missiles intoUkraine if it doesn’t want them shot down.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, President Zelenskyy, and the U.S. plan for a possible peace summit around the anniversary of Russia’s war
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s foreign minister on Monday said that his government is aiming to have a peace summit by the end of February, preferably at the United Nations with Secretary-General António Guterres as a possible mediator, around the anniversary of Russia’s war.
But Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told The Associated Press that Russia could only be invited to such a summit if the country faced a war crimes tribunal first.
Kuleba said he was very satisfied with the results of President Zelenskyy’s visit to the U.S. last week, as well as that the US government made a plan to get the missile battery ready. It takes up to a year to complete the training.
Kuleba said in the interview that diplomacy is an important part of the plan to win the war in 2023.
“The United Nations could be the best venue for holding this summit, because this is not about making a favor to a certain country,” he said. “This is really about bringing everyone on board.”
Zelensky presented a 10-point peace formula to world leaders at the Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, in November. India assumed the G20 presidency this month, and will hold it until next year.
The U.S. and Ukraine need a new leader in the war on the Middle East: Kuleba, Zelenskyy and the United States
About Guterres’ role, Kuleba said: “He has proven himself to be an efficient mediator and an efficient negotiator, and most importantly, as a man of principle and integrity. We would be happy with his active participation.
“They regularly say that they are ready for negotiations, which is not true, because everything they do on the battlefield proves the opposite,” he said.
Zelenskyy was in the U.S. for the first time since the war began. Kuleba appreciated Washington’s efforts and the significance of the visit.
Kuleba said that this shows how important the United States is to both Ukraine and the United States.
He said that the U.S. government developed a program that would cut training time for the missile battery in half, eliminating any harm to the weapon on the battlefield.
Kuleba didn’t say exactly what time he was talking about, but he did say it would be less than six months. “The training will be done outside of Ukraine,” he said.
During Russia’s ground and air war in Ukraine, Kuleba has been second only to Zelenskyy in carrying Ukraine’s message and needs to an international audience, whether through Twitter posts or meetings with friendly foreign officials.
On Monday, Ukraine called on U.N. member states to deprive Russia of its status as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and to exclude it from the world body. They have prepared for this step to uncover the fraud and remove Russia’s status.
The Foreign Ministry says that Russian never went through the legal procedure for acquiring membership and taking the place of the USSR at the U.N. Security Council after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Prime Minister Modi urged India to implement a peace formula in the Indian-Pakistan war on Ukraine after the G20 summit in September
During a phone conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he relied on India’s assistance to implement a peace formula.
The call comes as New Delhi seeks to boost trade ties with Moscow after becoming one of the largest purchasers of Russian oil – defying Western sanctions and providing a vital financial lifeline to Russian President Vladimir Putin as the Kremlin wages an unprovoked war against its neighbor.
The Indian government said in its statement that Modi had repeated his calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities.
The prime minister mentioned the priorities of the G20 Presidency, which included giving a voice to the concerns of developing nations on issues like food and energy security.
While India has not formally condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Modi told Putin in September that now is not the time for war, stressing the need to “move onto a path of peace” and reminding the Russian leader of the importance of “democracy, diplomacy and dialogue.”
Modi was also thought to be a key player in the G20’s decision to issue a joint declaration condemning Russia’s war in Ukraine “in the strongest terms.”
India, a nation of 1.3 billion, has repeatedly said its decision to increase purchases of Russian energy is to protect its own interests as a country where income levels are not high.
A list of more than 500 products was sent to India by Russia, which included parts of cars, aircraft and trains.
State media said Sunday that Putin said he was ready to negotiate about acceptable solutions for the war in Ukraine. In response, a Zelensky adviser said Moscow “doesn’t want negotiations, but tries to avoid responsibility” as it continues to attack civilians.