Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky seems hellbent on drawing NATO into direct conflict with Russia.
For example, he immediately blamed Russia for a missile that crash-landed in Poland last Tuesday. We can chalk that up to the fog of war.
But then Polish President Duda announced that the “missile appears to have been fired by Ukrainian air defence.” More to the point, he said that is the preliminary finding of the investigation Poland is conducting with NATO partners. But that didn’t matter. Zelensky continued to blame Russia.
Zelensky is alienating NATO, helping Russia
Zelensky is fomenting division and distrust between Ukraine and NATO. This missile mishap is relatively trivial, but it could have significant consequences. Simply put, he’s creating mischief that could undermine NATO’s support. In that sense, he’s doing what Putin has been trying to do from day one to no avail.
Zelensky would be well-advised to:
- retract his rash assignment of blame;
- apologize to President Duda and the Polish people for the “unfortunate accident”;
- assure NATO leaders that he fully accepts the preliminary findings of the Polish-led investigation and trusts them implicitly to come to the right conclusion; and
- join NATO leaders in holding Russia ultimately responsible – insisting that, but for Russia’s missile strikes on civilian targets so close to the Polish border, this accident would never have occurred.
Zelensky is beating his chest about the accuracy of Ukrainian intelligence. But he should be using the crisis this mishap caused as an opportunity. That is, for him to plead with NATO for more air defense and other weapons systems. And this week’s G20 summit presents an ideal opportunity.
Of course, there’s a certain irony in Zelensky blaming Russia, despite facts to the contrary. After all, he’s willfully giving NATO leaders cause to think his word is no more reliable than Putin’s. That could prove costly (in more ways than one) when it comes to he-said, he-said claims about war crimes.
Zelensky is undermining his leadership and goodwill
Zelensky has already given President Biden cause to question his judgment, temperament, and perspective. I denounced Zelensky’s aides in a blog post last summer. That’s because they were saying that Zelensky, not Joe Biden, is now the leader of the free world. And they were saying so while criticizing Biden for not braving the war zone to meet Zelensky in Kyiv when he visited Poland in March.
I tagged their behavior as a red flag on Zelensky’s leadership. After all, they were proselytizing the patent folly that foreign leaders had to make pilgrimages to Ukraine. That pilgrimage had become their litmus test for leaders to show their commitment to helping Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s genocidal ravages.
Except that, anyone in their right mind would’ve expected Zelensky to get off his ass. That is, for him to travel across the border to Poland to meet (and thank) Biden (and then ask for more aid).
A wannabe Churchill or Napoleon
I suggested that all the Churchillian praise was getting to Zelensky’s head. But even Churchill had enough diplomatic respect to travel across the Atlantic to America to meet (and thank) Roosevelt (and then ask for more aid). And he did so time and again.
On March 17, Deutsche Welle reported on Zelensky’s address to the German parliament. In commenting on its report, I advised that Zelensky would do well to emulate Winston Churchill’s wartime situational and geopolitical awareness. Foremost, that means making time to sleep, shower, and shave. I insinuated that doing so would do wonders for Zelensky’s temperament and judgment.
Except that Churchill might be the wrong historical analogy. Because, in picking this petty fight with his NATO benefactors, Zelensky is coming across more like Napoleon. Indeed, his NATO benefactors should fear enabling Zelensky to see them as little more than vassals serving his sacred cause.