My most alive memory of the Volodymyr Zelsky campaign for the President of Ukraine was its debate With President Petro Poroshenko in April 2019. Army, Language and Faith. Mr. Zelena, an extremely popular comedian and actor who played a fictitious president, shot that the outsider was ready to break the system. His harsh energy and charisma easily overshadowed Mr. Poroshenko. A few days later he was his presidency.
One wonders if he ever wished to return it.
Different sides of the war in Ukraine achieve different simple stories about Mr. Zelena. He is a hero who remained in Ukraine when Russia launched an invasion in full in February 2022, or is a thin skin “dictator without elections“The truth has always been more complicated: Mr. Zelsky is an imperfect leader of the emerging democracy and a former actor in the role of his life. Sometimes looked like The right man for the momentu others seemed to be over his head.
After several difficult weeks with Trump’s administration, including a disastrous meeting in an oval office and pauses in American military assistance and intelligence sharing, Mr. Zlensky had several days. Ukraine agreed to the conditions of a 30-day proposal for a ceasefire, military assistance and news information will be resumed and is now in Russia receiving or rejection-and shows a world that is indeed an obstacle to peace.
After months The declining popularity in Ukraine has increased its approval assessment – a new survey commissioned by an economist This month suggests that 72 percent will approve their work performance and win the elections if someone is held today. It is an opportunity for him to gain Ukrainians, make critical reforms and demonstrate the world what Ukraine could be if it has a chance.
In 2019, Mr. Zelena promised the Ukrainians that he would be eroated with corruption and approach the country to Europe. Parliament passed in 2020 Anticorruption ActBut in the months before the invasion, the administration of Mr. Zelena was accused of tolerating corruption and moved too slowly on reforms, especially in the judiciary.
He has created on one side on one side Independent Public Procurement AgenciesBut on the other hand re -opened the door to shopping weapons with one source that are particularly vulnerable to corruption. And in February the Zelský administration deposited Mr. Poroshenko, now the leader of the opposition, financial sanctions. The official reason was allegedly “high betrayal” – but this step was criticized as a being politically motivated.
While many Ukrainians, including pensioners and displaced people, are trying to meet goals, it seems to be a striking source of society prosperous. In Kiev and to a lesser extent, sending, there are Luxury cars on the streets And expensive wine and champagne for sale in Good Wine, the popular shop of the capital. Public opinion surveys indicate That most Ukrainians consider corruption to be the second biggest problem in Ukraine after Russian aggression. Mr. Zelena should recommend himself and his government to fight.
In February, Keith Kellogg, the special envoy of Mr. Trump for Ukraine and Russia The end of this yearbut survey That month he found that 63 percent of the Ukrainians were against the national elections until the war was over. To maintain free and fair elections during the war would be extremely difficult. The deployment of observers near the front lines would be dangerous. Russian propaganda would flood air waves to support Pro-Kremlin candidates and insufficiently funded diplomatic functions would try to accommodate millions of Ukrainian voters abroad. Voting stations would be a goal for Russian forces and get a voting of the frontline staff would be a prominent challenge.
A possible first step could be the organization of some local elections that would not include Ukrainian citizens abroad or require military staff of active services to vote remotely or in special polling stations. This could provide the much needed stress test for the Hibern Electoral Infrastructure in the country, and if it were properly performed, it would signal-the America, Russia and the European Union- that democratic institutions and aspirations of Ukraine remain intact.
In any case, the elections cannot be held according to the martial law that has been imposed on the whole of Ukraine from Invasion in full scale. According to the martial law, the election are suspended, Military men They are limited from leaving the country and are imposed on a mandatory prohibition of walking.
The logic of measures, such as measures during the war, is clear and even under war law, protests in Kiev did not meet against the police intervention as in Belarus or Russia. Public programs of dissatisfaction continue to tolerate, especially because the number of members of services of services increases to tens of thousands. I have witnessed the Assembly at Maidan Square in Kiev – many led Mother and Children The required limits on the front service – end peacefully, while the coercive organs maintain a respectful distance.
But the release of some aspects of martial law would present a feeling of normal and the gesture more and more tired that better times are ahead of us. A logical starting point would be to mitigate travel Opening some airports And to avert a ban on walking in regions bordering on the European Union countries in the West, where the war feels distant in addition to occasional Russian and missile strikes.
Although military assistance and intelligence sharing is restored, Ukraine must assume that the US support will dry. At the same time, European leaders said they wanted to propose a plan to turn Ukraine into ‘Steel porcupine“ – for attackers impossible to absorb. Support from Europe does not have to openly have transaction conditions that Mr. Trump is looking for, but will come up with the conditions: EU Member States will require assurance that their money will not be unnecessary and that Ukraine can survive as a stable democracy.
Mr. Zelena can take specific steps – even during the war – to prove the obligation of Ukraine to democracy. In February 2022, when Mr. Zeletsky said memorable, “I need ammunition, not ride.” He turned out that in some respects he is the right person at the moment.
It can do this again by taking specific steps to make Ukraine a clear lighthouse of democracy on the Russian border.
