Analysis: Zelenskyi appealed to the Finns through the memory of the Winter War and his reputation for education

In his speeches to the parliaments of other countries, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi has met to look for common ground in the history and culture of each country.

Zelenskyi knew well what to rely on in Finland: the memory of the Winter War.

– In your history, you have seen the Russian invasion of your country. This threat still exists. We must do our best to ensure that this does not happen again. Russia’s war against Ukraine is not only decisive for us, but for all of Russia’s border states, the President of Ukraine said remotely in a speech to the Finnish Parliament.

Zelenskyi listed the superiority of the Russian armed forces and the oil dollars and euros that support Russian propaganda.

“But just as your courage saved your country from Stalin’s attack, so does our courage to resist this attack,” said Zelenskyi.

Zelenskyi even compared the necessary strong sanctions packages to Molotov cocktails. He urged Finns to put pressure on all Finnish companies to sever their ties with Russia.

Zelenskyi speculated about small countries better understand the situation than the great powers.

In his speech, Zelenskyi stressed that the Ukrainians do not have time to wait: the country needs urgent arms assistance.

– We hear that we have to wait in a situation where hundreds of people are lost every day and our cities are destroyed, Zelenskyi said.

Zelenskyi praised that Finland had not waited but made a historic decision to support Ukraine, including with defense equipment.

In his speech, Zelenskyi did not exactly want arms assistance from Finland, but said that Ukraine needed the weapons that some EU countries have. In some of his speeches, Zelenskyi has named certain weapons, but he did not present a wish list to the Finnish Parliament.

Zelenskyi also looked ahead, at the time of reconstruction. At this point, he referred to Finland’s educational expertise.

A huge number of Ukrainian school buildings have been destroyed and damaged in the war, and the country needs support to restore education after the war.

In the conditions of war in Zelenskya former comedian, ‘s communication skills have reached their own.

Zelenskyi, who gives emotional speeches about Kiev in barren green terrain, has taken over the air war in the information war, when the Russian president Vladimir Putin has managed to look mostly alienated with its long tables and long speeches.

The Finns got to Zelensky’s speech quite easily, as the President of Ukraine has not shyed away from making even the sharpest criticism of the slow response. It has also provoked backlash.

The President of Hungary Viktor Orbán again, Zelensky named his opponent when he criticized Hungary’s decision not to allow arms shipments through Ukraine. The Prime Minister of Israel Naphtali Bennett again, it did not melt the fact that Zelenskyi equated Ukraine’s suffering with the Holocaust.

In the Greek Parliament, it was outrageous that a video of a Greek-backed soldier from the disputed far-right Azov battalion was attached to Zelensky’s speech.

Putin underestimates both the Ukrainian armed forces and Zelensky. In Putin’s cynical view, Zelenskyi was a Western puppet and weak governance would collapse from the first strike. That did not happen.

– This was just an ordinary train station, in an ordinary eastern Ukrainian city. That’s how Russia came to protect Donbass, that’s how it protects the Russian-speaking population, Zelenskyi said.

In the wake of the retreating Russian troops the revealed brutality, on the other hand, also narrows Zelensky’s room for maneuver in possible peace talks. Any kind of concessions to Russia are becoming increasingly difficult.

At the same time, Russia is hardly ready to end the war unless it achieves some victory in the face of loss of face.

So there may still be a long and brutal war ahead, so Zelensky will have to be able to keep Ukraine in the public eye for a long time to come.

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