However, as pressure and frustrations have grown, Mr Zelenskyy has - perhaps understandably - used increasingly undiplomatic language, which has exacerbated tensions. To date, despite the mounting pressures and relentless tempo of the war, Mr Zelenskyy has successfully managed to maintain diplomatic pressure on stakeholders without causing friction. Mr Zelenskyy's claim that he is fighting Russia to stop Europe descending into a third world war resonated at the start of the war, but the waning level of international support is clearly a major concern.Īnd he does not have a senior, experienced confidante with which to share his burden, in the way Winston Churchill used the monarchy during the Second World War. Mr Zelenskyy has been very effective at maintaining the profile of the war in international media, and securing a vital flow of western military and financial aid.īut Western public support for the conflict is waning - Russia's threat to wider Europe has diminished and domestic priorities are starting to focus Western minds away from a "distant" war. The counteroffensive is not progressing as planned, and he has had to tolerate criticism of his military strategy, even from Western allies. He has no military experience, yet is having to bear responsibility for sending his military forces into a highly attritional battle, with mounting casualties. He has proven an exceptionally gifted wartime leader, but cracks are starting to show. Sleep deprivation coupled with the stresses and strains of war are etched into deep furrows on his face. On a more positive note, in Washington Mr Zelenskyy was able to secure a new aid package specifically focused on the next phase of the war, but the backdrop was a lukewarm reception from Congress - reflecting declining US public support for the war.Īnd frictions over grain tariffs between Ukraine and Poland, Slovakia and Hungary have also served to heighten tensions and test Western unity.Īfter more than 18 months of war, the pressures continue to mount for Mr Zelenskyy. The UN Security Council - with five permanent members - was designed to be the teeth of the UN, able to issue binding resolutions upon member states, but that also proved impotent. Instead, not only did a number of nations evidently place self-interest over collective peace and security - many have established closer economic ties with Russia over the past year - but Iran took the opportunity to criticise the US for intervening and prolonging the conflict. In his first appearance at the UN in person since the start of the war, the Ukrainian president might have hoped that its funding principles would lead to a groundswell of condemnation of Russia's illegal invasion. It's been a trying week for Volodymyr Zelenskyy.Īt the United Nations meeting in New York, he appeared a weary, frustrated and at times angry leader.
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