You can call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a lot of things, but you can’t call him a punk.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly tried to kill Zelenskyy at least a dozen times since the full-scale invasion began in 2022. The ruler of one of the world‘s most powerful militaries is using all of its technological might—with help from China and North Korea—to pound Zelenskyy’s country into submission. Putin’s airstrikes kill Ukrainian civilians almost on a daily basis; Russian soldiers rape and pillage in the towns and villages they occupy and attempt to freeze the populace to death.
Still, Ukrainians aren’t pressing Zelenskyy to throw in the towel.
When Russia claimed it had taken control of the frontline battle city of Kupiansk, Zelenskyy pulled up and took selfies, mocking Putin on social media. He basically told Putin to “meet me outside.” Same at the start of the war when Zelenskyy told Western leaders, “I need ammunition—not a ride,” after they offered to help him flee Kyiv as Russian soldiers advanced on the city. And if you think that’s badass, a group of Ukrainian soldiers defending an island on the Black Sea famously said, “Russian warship, go fuck yourself,” after they were told they’d be bombed to death if they didn’t surrender. Ukraine created a stamp to commemorate their defiance and show the world that Ukrainians are literally “about that life.”
These are the people President Donald Trump is trying to pressure into a one-sided deal with Putin.
As someone who has been living in Ukraine since 2009 and has covered the war full time since 2022, I can tell you that Ukrainians are fight-to-the-death type of people who have grown used to sunbathing on the beach during drone attacks, serving coffee to patrons even after their facilities are damaged from airstrikes and pitching tents in their homes to brave freezing temperatures after Russian missile attacks hit a power grid.
Malcolm Nance, an intelligence expert, once told me that Ukrainians are the “white Taliban.”
