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Zelensky’s Biggest Failure
Why it’s not anything to do with bringing oversight to anti-corruption agencies
It’s impossible not to have sympathy for Volodymyr Zelensky. The former comedian and TV/movie actor decided to enter politics in the hope that he could emulate the character he played in the successful series Слуга Нагоду (Servant of the People) and introduce a more transparent and honest form of government. Frankly, he was out of his depth and his encounter with Trump 1.0 showed that most of his team was likewise in the neophyte phase.
And then Russia invaded for a third time on 24th February 2022 (the first two invasions occurring in 2014 as the West, as always, sat passively watching despite the USA and the UK having a legal obligation to defend Ukraine). The USA offered Zelensky a private jet out of the country and he famously replied, “I don’t need a ride, I need ammunition.” At that moment he stopped being an actor-turned-politician and became the symbol of his nation’s resistance to Putin’s death-soaked dictatorship. Simultaneously with fighting Russian invasion, Zelensky has also been waging a battle against the kind of corruption favored by old-time Ukrainian politicians like Yulia Tymoshenko and Petro Poroshenko. Although some Western commentators frame this as being imposed on Ukraine in order for it to satisfy Western donors, the…
