Ukrainian President’s Zelensky’s heroism may have set off a torrent of support in no small measure from the West as Formula One and European football chiefs have stripped Russia of showpiece events. Russian ballet performances have been canceled in the UK. And some US states are pulling Russian-made vodka off the shelves.
Still, under the most extreme circumstances, Zelensky displays the very values — including a staunch defense of democracy — that would qualify Ukraine for membership in both the European Union and NATO, a path Putin tried to close off with his invasion.
“They are one of us and we want them in,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in an interview with Euronews on Sunday, referring to Ukraine.
Zelensky is not just creating a historic legend for himself, in standing up to tyranny in a manner that places him alongside famed Cold War dissidents like Polish Solidarity leader Lech Walesa and Imre Nagy, the executed leader of the 1956 Hungarian uprising against the Warsaw Pact. He is offering the kind of inspirational leadership that has often been lacking during a pandemic that saw some leaders put their political goals above the public good and refuse to follow the public health rules they imposed on their people. Unlike former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who fled Kabul when the Taliban bore down on the capital last summer, Zelensky is resolved to stay and fight — and possibly to die with his people.
He has become the rarest of leaders — synonymous with the mood and character of his people at a pivotal moment in history while willing them to ever greater national efforts like British Prime Minister Winston Churchill during World War II or George Washington during and after the American revolution.
In what has already become an iconic comment, Zelensky has rejected American offers of an exit to safety, telling the US, according to his country’s embassy in Britain, “The fight is here. I need ammunition. Not a ride.”
In another poignant message on Sunday, the Ukrainian President warned the rest of the world that although he and his country were in the firing line, he was waging a fight on behalf of worldwide democracy and freedom.
“Ukrainians have manifested the courage to defend their homeland and save Europe and its values from a Russian onslaught,” he said.
“This is not just Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This is the beginning of a war against Europe, against European structures, against democracy, against basic human rights, against a global order of law, rules and peaceful coexistence.” [CNN]
