(CNN)Rarely in modern times has a political leader so boldly transcended his time.
But a palpable tone of desperation now pervades Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s inspirational rhetoric as he pleads for more direct Western intervention to save Ukraine while ruthless Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces ravage cities and bomb civilians.
Zelensky’s relentless media campaign and courage to remain in Kyiv to fight alongside his people prompted the world’s democracies to bring anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons into the country and crush the Russian economy in a far more robust response than expected. But his pleas for more aid, which are expected to dominate his speech to the US Congress and the American people on Wednesday, will also expose Ukraine’s unfolding tragedy.
The measures the belligerent president says his country needs to survive — like NATO-enforced no-fly zones and Soviet-era jets from former Warsaw Pact states that are now part of the West — are being branded by the Biden administration as a step viewed too widely because they could anger Moscow and drag the US into a dangerous escalation with its nuclear-armed rival.
Ukraine’s president offered a possible preview of his plea — and his growing anger — in an address to Canada’s parliament on Tuesday, his final stop on a virtual tour of national lawmakers that highlights his ability to pressure Western leaders.
“Can you imagine when you call your friends, your friendly nation, and say, ‘Please close the skies, close the airspace. Please stop the bombing. How many more cruise missiles have to fall on our cities before you make this happen? ‘ And they express their deep concern about the situation in return,” he said.
Zelensky’s heartbreaking daily appeals, alongside the horrifying images of civilian casualties, make it impossible to ignore the agony of Ukraine and its people. If the worst happens and he ends up killed – as he has openly admitted is a real possibility – and Ukraine falls, addresses like the one to US lawmakers will be an indictment of Putin’s barbarism and a global system that was unable to stop it.
Even if Biden does announce another $800 million in security aid, including anti-tank missiles, after Zelensky’s speech, there may be a limit to what the Ukrainian president’s appeals can achieve. As reported by CNN’s Kevin Liptak, Biden had not relented in his opposition to a no-fly zone.
The Outer Conscience of the West
Zelenskyy has already pushed Western leaders further into a conflict that changed the shape of post-Cold War Europe when they might have thought they were ready to leave. His personal bravery humanized the conflict and contrasted it with Putin’s ruthless authoritarianism.
With his acting talent, Zelensky knows exactly how to communicate with the citizens of the western nations, whose leaders he is trying to move. He plays with foreign nations’ own sense of size and self by conjuring up history and national mythology.
For example, in his address to the British House of Commons, Zelenskyi drew analogies with wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the country’s lonely stand against Nazi tyranny in 1940. “We will fight in the woods, on the shores and in the streets,” he said, referring to a famous Churchill speech in which the great statesman also appealed for help from the “New World” – America – similar to what Zelenskyy is doing now. He also borrowed the quintessence of Shakespeare’s “To Be or Not to Be” – a meditation on the nature of existence and death – to argue that Ukraine chose life and sovereignty, or “to be”.
“Please make sure you do what needs to be done and what the size of your country dictates,” Zelenskyi told UK MPs.
In his speech to Canada’s parliament on Tuesday, Zelenskyy blatantly put direct personal pressure on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a father of young children who is among NATO leaders who need to approve more support.
“Imagine, at 4 a.m. each of you starts hearing bomb explosions,” said Zelenskyy. “Heavy explosions. Justin, can you imagine hearing all these big explosions – you, your children, hearing all these big explosions: airport bombing, Ottawa airport bombing, dozens of other cities in your beautiful country. Can you imagine that?”
Zelensky also displayed the consummate politician’s flair for bringing a complex or distant subject to a local audience. He challenged Canadians to imagine what it would be like if Vancouver were besieged or Toronto’s famous CN Tower bombed. “In every city they march through, they take down Ukrainian flags. Can you imagine someone taking down your Canadian flags in Montreal and other Canadian cities?” he said.
Zelenskyj will certainly adapt this message for a US audience on Wednesday. Given his capacity for historical allusions, it would not be surprising if he were referring to great wartime presidents and freedom fighters like Franklin Roosevelt or Abraham Lincoln, or America’s own struggle for liberation from a superior military power. His speech is also likely to increase domestic pressure on Biden to do more for Ukraine and punish Russia. CNN’s MJ Lee and Lauren Fox reported Tuesday that some congressional leaders are losing patience with the government’s unwillingness to move closer to Zelenskyy’s demands.
“Everything Congress asked for, the administration originally said no. And later they say yes, after our allies do,” said Senator Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “It’s slow. It’s unbearable.”
But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday reiterated his opposition to a no-fly zone that could bring US and Russian pilots into direct clashes over Ukraine. “He (Zelensky) already knows that the US will not engage directly with Ukraine,” the Kentucky Republican said, though he expressed support for helping Kyiv get old Soviet-era jets.
His comments reflected the mood in Congress, which Zelenskyy will strengthen on Wednesday. Ukraine will receive more support, but will not be able to escape the geopolitical and nuclear dilemma that prevent the West from fully committing to its defense.
A cruel turning point
Zelenskyi’s speech comes at a cruel turning point in the conflict, and his refusal to leave his country puts him in grave danger as Russia intensifies its attack on Kyiv and appears to be preparing a siege of the city.
Russia’s slow advance has turned into a murderous war of attrition, with its forces bombing civilian residences. In the coastal city of Mariupol, which could offer a disastrous preview of what awaits Kyiv, thousands of civilians are trapped in fear in an unimaginable act of Russian cruelty with no heat, water and food.
A maniacal international diplomatic effort, meanwhile, has made little headway. There are also no days-long talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials on a ceasefire. Everything indicates that Putin, despite having made his nation a political, cultural and economic pariah, is determined to drive Ukraine into submission in order to achieve his goal of never aligning itself with the West.
In a possible show of flexibility on the issue, Zelenskyy told a British-led Joint Expeditionary Force in a virtual address on Tuesday that it needed to be “acknowledged” that his country could not join NATO. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that the possible concession to one of Moscow’s key demands was a “reflection of reality”.
But there have been no immediate signs that Putin, who has dismissed ceasefire talks, is in any mood to show mercy.
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