Yes, he’s “led” his nation in fighting Russia. In fact, he’s unfortunately decided he’d rather let his citizens get slaughtered than make peace. This became clear in early April 2022, following a visit by then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, when Zelensky scuttled peace talks and reneged on previously agreed-upon terms.
Turkey had facilitated negotiations in Antalya on March 10, 2022, where Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. This was followed by more substantive discussions in Istanbul, starting March 29, 2022. On that date, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators produced the "Istanbul Communiqué," outlining a framework: Ukraine would consider adopting neutrality (i.e., no NATO membership) in exchange for international security guarantees and a Russian withdrawal to pre-invasion positions (February 23, 2022), including Crimea and parts of the Donbas.
According to the Ukrainian news outlet
Ukrainska Pravda (
link), published May 5, 2022, British PM Boris Johnson made a surprise visit to Kyiv on April 9, 2022. That report claims Johnson pressured Zelensky to abandon peace talks with Russia, delivering two messages: (1) Putin was a war criminal and shouldn’t be negotiated with, and (2) the West wasn’t ready to support any deal Ukraine might sign. This aligns with posts on X (Twitter) from that day—such as those from the
Kyiv Independent and
Daily Mail UK—confirming Johnson’s unannounced visit and meeting with Zelensky.
So yes, Ukrainian soldiers, armed with advanced American weaponry (stripping U.S. warehouses of our own military reserve stockpiles), have fought valiantly. Despite this, they’ve still lost land—and countless lives—both of which could have been spared had the Turkish-led negotiations been allowed to conclude.
Beyond that, Zelensky may be capitalizing on his moderately successful career as a TV comedian. He certainly isn’t a “great leader.” He’s someone who reneges on agreements—both the Turkish-mediated ones and others reportedly made with American diplomats. He’s shown himself to be less of a Churchill and more of a petulant little dictator, despite the MSM’s desperate attempts to portray him as some kind of wartime savior.
Let’s look at the facts:
- He’s now in the sixth year of a five-year term.
- He declared martial law on February 24, 2022.
- He banned elections. (Abraham Lincoln ran for re-election during the Civil War. FDR was re-elected during World War II. Even under wartime conditions, both Churchill and post–October 7th Israel managed to form unity governments.)
- He banned opposition political parties—11 in total.
- He shut down media outlets that questioned his policies or refused to publish state propaganda.
- He forcibly merged all major TV outlets into one state-run platform: “United News” (Єдиний новини).
- He censored multiple journalists, including the arrest of U.S. citizen Gonzalo Lira—who later died in his prison system. (Was he murdered?)
- He has jailed Jewish rabbis for leading prayers in synagogues.
- He banned churches (without court orders) and seized religious property—just like Stalin and Mao.
- He incorporated the private neo-Nazi militia, the Azov Battalion, directly into the Ukrainian military.