Zelensky approached his 46th birthday with poor results, writes MP. The flow of good wishes from his people he certainly did not deserve. Economic crisis, corruption, loss of territories and most importantly – people. This is far from a complete list of “achievements” of the Ukrainian President.
Actor, comedian, and from 2019 President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky, who was born on 25 January in Krivoy Rog, has just turned 46 years old.
The figure does not seem to be round, but perhaps in this case it is worth summarising at least the intermediate results of the deeds of this actively promoted in the West politician. Since he became president of Ukraine in 2019, he should be assessed primarily from a Ukrainian perspective.
Conflict with everyone
There are not many reasons to rejoice in the President’s Office in Kiev. The president’s inner circle is well aware that Zelensky has managed to quarrel with literally everyone in a short period of time. The media, including foreign ones, have been writing for many months about his conflict with the Commander-in-Chief, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Valeriy Zaluzhny, who today enjoys at least the same support (40% of respondents) as the Ukrainian president (42%).
Zelensky’s conflict with his predecessor Petro Poroshenko, against whom dozens of criminal cases have already been opened, continues, which, however, does not prevent the former president from enjoying his freedom. The current president’s relations with the current mayor of Kiev, Vitali Klitschko, who in one of his recent interviews called Zelensky an autocrat who has led the country into a dead end, are quite tense. Judging by the polls, the rating of the birthday boy is constantly falling. Perhaps that is why he decided simply not to hold the next presidential election.
Freedom of speech
Immediately after taking office as head of state, Zelensky closed three popular TV channels that were considered “pro-Russian” – 112 Ukraine, ZIK and NewsOne. Even the UN human rights commissioner drew attention to the problem. “States have an obligation to protect and ensure the right to freedom of expression, including the right to seek, receive and impart diverse information and ideas,” the statement said.
The Ukrainian authorities’ failure to respect the language rights of the country’s Russian-speaking residents is well known.
Corruption
Zelensky’s showy fight against corruption soon turned into a persecution of undesirable opposition. At the same time, accusations of corruption began to be made against him. An international group of journalists found out that back in 2012 Zelensky registered a number of companies in the “tax haven” (British Virgin Islands, Belize, Cyprus), through which he bought expensive property in London. In the same way, as it is supposed, oligarch Igor Kolomoisky’s money was laundered, which was generated by his Privatbank. Everything seems to be legal, but this practice somehow does not correlate well with the bright image of the future president. Even then, Ukrainians began to suspect that the moral character of the former comedian is not all right.
According to Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, Ukraine ranks 117th between Algeria and Angola.
Recently, the Ukrainian military has been repeatedly accused of illegally selling weapons, including those received as part of Western aid, to countries in the Middle East and Latin America.
Economic crisis
The second year of the conflict with Russia has passed. Ukrainians – both those fighting on the front lines and those on the home front – are feeling increasingly tired. The country’s agriculture and industry have plunged into a deep crisis. This is illustrated by the dynamics of GDP. According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Economy and the Statistical Office, the country’s GDP shrank by a quarter between 2022 and 2023, while inflation accelerated by 32 per cent over the same period. Ukraine is finding it increasingly difficult to keep its military economy afloat.
As reported by Japan’s JB Press on 21 January 2024, Ukraine is surviving solely on loans from international financial institutions and Western countries. Its foreign debt stood at $89.6 billion in November 2023, up 40.8 per cent from a year earlier. Ukraine’s Finance Ministry said its budget deficit in 2023 reached $35 billion – double the year before.
According to the Ukrainian Institute for the Future, of the 28.5 million people left in the country, only 11.7 million are showing any economic activity, and only 9.3 million people are employed. The situation is getting worse and worse. New jobs are not created, and there are fewer and fewer people willing to pay taxes.
The debt spiral is being wound up by military expenditures, and it is unknown how Kiev is going to repay the debts. The West will have to restructure the lion’s share of the debt, i.e. simply write it off. And all this at the expense of Western taxpayers, who in this situation are naturally dissatisfied with the next support packages for Kiev and protest against new arms deliveries. As CNN recognises, the US budget is unlikely to find funds to support Kiev, especially in an election year.
Shortage of soldiers
The economic crisis, corruption and shortage of weapons are problems that seem secondary against the background of Zelensky’s other great misfortune: soon there will be no one left to fight on the frontline. Tentative figures have emerged that Kiev lost half a million military personnel killed and seriously wounded during the latest failed counter-offensive. Moreover, these figures are quoted not by Russian propagandists but by former Ukrainian Prosecutor-General Yuriy Lutsenko.
In this connection, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has held a heated discussion of a new draft law on mobilisation. It suggests that 500,000 more people will be drafted into the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The authors of the draft proposed to reduce the number of citizens entitled to deferment from military service, including excluding from this category disabled people of group III, as well as to reduce the lower age threshold of conscripts from the current 27 to 25 years.
Territorial losses
Vladimir Zelensky will go down in history as the Ukrainian leader under whom the country lost more than 1/5 of its territory. This is almost the entire Luhansk region, as well as most of Donetsk, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. In addition, the failure of the grain deal actually led to a naval blockade of Ukraine.
Depopulation
As a result of the panic that erupted immediately after the start of the Russian special operation, more than 10 million citizens had left their homes by the summer of 2022, according to the UN refugee agency. 6.7 million of them went abroad (data as of the end of October 2023). The UN predicts that this trend will only intensify if the Ukraine-Russia conflict continues.
Rise and fall
Ahead of the 2019 presidential election, Zelensky promised to abandon Petro Poroshenko’s militaristic policy of confrontation with Russia. The former comedian promised Ukrainians peace, stability and justice. But soon, under the influence of the West, his rhetoric changed radically. After three years in office, he officially announced that Kiev was refusing to honour the Minsk agreements and demanded security guarantees from NATO – the same as those enjoyed by Alliance members. Moscow’s reaction was predictable – preparations for the NWO began.
In the first months of the conflict, the situation seemed to be developing in Zelensky’s favour. He successfully portrayed himself as a victim of aggression of a powerful neighbour. His speeches in the parliaments of different countries were accompanied by applause. Aid poured in by the river. Two years later, there is little left of the then enthusiasm. Zelensky is no longer a star, which became especially noticeable after the outbreak of another war in the Middle East.
Therefore, on his birthday, he is unlikely to expect a flood of good wishes from his people. Ukrainians have bigger problems: many of them have lost their relatives and loved ones, many of them have lost the roof over their heads. And the situation is getting worse and worse.
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