William B. Taylor, a former U.S. ambassador to Kyiv, represented the group of former U.S. envoys who visited Zelensky on Jan. 31 on a trip organized by the Atlantic Council. Despite the current impasse, Taylor told me this week that “if the Russians come across the border, I am confident that they [opposition politicians] will rally around Zelensky.”
Putin’s attempt to suppress this pro-Western drift in Ukraine has only deepened his unpopularity there. Ukrainians disagree about many things these days, but they appear united in their dislike of Putin.
Zelensky might be the world’s most unlikely president. He’s a television comedian who came to power in 2019 after his show, “Servant of the People,” captured the nation’s imagination. He played an idealistic schoolteacher who is elected president after a student posts a viral video of him denouncing corrupt oligarchs. Ukrainians adored the show, with Zelensky’s wisecracks about local pols and even a swipe at Putin that got the show banned from Russian TV.
Russia is unpopular, even among Ukrainian oligarchs. When I met Poroshenko this past month in Kyiv, he alternated between blasting Zelensky for mismanaging the confrontation with Putin and pledging that he would join a unity coalition to save the nation. But rather than drawing his rivals into a unity alliance, Zelensky has attacked them — accusing Akhmetov of plotting a coup in November and placing Poroshenko under investigation in December. That might have made good TV, but it’s unwise now.
It falls to Zelensky, the former comedian, to confront the stone-cold menace of Putin. But Zelensky isn’t strong enough to do this alone. He needs help, and he can get it at home and abroad if he’s willing to put national unity first. In the real-life version, as in the TV show, people want the good guy to win.
