To speak to the Ukrainian people, this March 31, Volodymyr Zelensky posted himself in front of the house of Chimeras, in the historic heart of kyiv. “It is important that everyone shows restraint, he said. Restraint in emotion as in concern. Because other battles await us. The path we have to go is very difficult.” The tone is martial, almost Churchillian. That of a president who has become a national hero. To his compatriots, the warlord Zelensky promises sweat and tears… and instills hope in them.
Khaki outfit and beard collar, Zelensky is the complete opposite of a Vladimir Putin caparisoned in his bunker. Elected by the will of the people, he does not fight to satisfy a nauseating dream of grandeur, but to enforce the law. Ukraine, sovereign and independent, struggles to choose its destiny. By dint of proclaiming it, its president won the support of Westerners. At the gates of the European Union (EU), Zelensky embodies our values, those of a democratic world threatened by a Putin who is more dangerous than ever.
Who would have imagined such a metamorphosis? Even the screenwriters servant of the people, the series in which Zelensky, when he was an actor, played his own role, that of a citizen propelled to power, would not have dared to go so far… While the Russian troops massed at the borders of his country , in January, the Ukrainian president seemed isolated. His popularity was at an all-time low, his reforms were bogged down and his deputies were jumping ship. Investors were fleeing the country. And Western chancelleries doubted his ability to lead the country.
And then there was war. On February 24, the first tanks entered Ukraine. Zelensky declares martial law. Breaks diplomatic relations with Moscow. Nationalizes Russian government assets. “These courageous actions showed the Ukrainians that he intended to fight, reports analyst Kostyantyn Batozsky, in kyiv. From that day on, everyone followed him.” His decision to remain in his presidential office as Russian troops reach the outskirts of the capital galvanizes the army. “He was able to capture the state of mind of the country, comments Mykola Davydiuk, director of the think tank Politics. Despite his numerical inferiority, the population was ready to fight. She was not afraid. Zelensky has become the symbol of this resistance. His response to the Americans, who offered to evacuate him, has the panache of a Cambronne in Waterloo: “I need anti-tank ammunition, not to go for a ride!”
Symbol of the fight against tyranny
This meaning of the formula, Zelensky will use it widely towards the Westerners, still reluctant, the day after the invasion, to supply him with weapons – Germany in the lead. But when Putin orders the bombing of cities, Europeans realize that the Russian ogre will not necessarily stop at Ukraine. Moldova, Georgia and the Baltic countries could fall in turn. Zelensky becomes the symbol of a heroic struggle against tyranny.
In Washington, Berlin or Brussels, his poignant speeches hit home. “I am almost 45 years old, he told the American Congress. Today, my existence has stopped when the hearts of more than 100 children have stopped beating. I see no meaning in life if it cannot not stop death.” Skilful words intended for public opinion, decrypts Kostyantyn Batozsky: “Politicians are very undecided and, for some, favorable to Putin. Rather than dealing with them, Zelensky addresses their people. By showing photos of the bombed cities, it encourages citizens to put pressure on their rulers. This strategy seems to be working. Europeans see Ukraine in a different light.”
In a few weeks, “he has become a symbol for freedom and democracy”, opines Christoph Heusgen, president of the Munich Security Conference, who hopes that the Ukrainian president, when peace returns, “will take advantage of the sympathy he enjoys within the EU to establish good governance and fight against corruption”.
Mykola Davydiuk goes further: “Zelensky will not be the same president as before the war. He will use his new stature to bring Ukraine into the European family. Have we not shown that we are ready to die for his values? Already, “Zelensky the Democrat” has won over Commission President Ursula von der Leyen: “The Ukrainians are part of us and we want them to join us,” she said recently. A glimmer of hope for a country wounded to death.