The Times view on President Zelensky: Putin’s Nemesis
The silver tongue of Volodymyr Zelensky has turned him into a formidable war leader. The Ukrainian president is The Times Man of the Year
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Offered western help in evacuating from a besieged Kyiv almost two years ago, President Zelensky declared: “I need ammunition, not a ride.” That was more than bravado. It was a sober assessment of the existential crisis whipped up by Vladimir Putin’s invasion force. If he fled into exile, leaderless Ukraine was likely to crumple. But if the West gave him prompt military support, there was at least a chance of giving the Russian leader a bloody nose. Since then many hundreds of thousands of soldiers on both sides have fallen, but the calculation remains essentially the same: the Ukrainians are fighting not only for the survival of their independent state but also as part of a broader western strategy to keep a predatory Mr Putin
