One has to feel sorry for President Zelensky of Ukraine and the pickle he has got himself into.
He was elected on a 'peace in the east' platform that he soon abandoned due to political pressure, alienating many of his voters in eastern Ukraine and leading to the death of many in the east as the Ukrainian army attacked its own citizens (i.e. the separatists).
He was personally threatened by a leader of an ultra-nationalist group if he did not toe the line. And that's just the threats known publicly.
[https://x.com/BowesChay/status/1916699490905460883]
He is a Jewish president surrounded by ultra-nationalists who are often openly anti-semitic in their rhetoric and celebrate a virulently anti-semitic heritage stretching back to WW2.
He was ready for peace at Istanbul in 2022 but was persuaded to fight-on by the promise of unlimited western support in the NATO project to destroy Russia via a proxy war.
Under his presidency, millions of Ukrainians fled to both the east and the west.
Under his presidency, the infrastructure of the country is being steadily wrecked.
Under his presidency the country has essentially been bankrupted and depends on massive loans that Ukraine will never be able to repay.
Under his presidency it's likely that the country will be divided in two, leaving a western Ukraine dominated by ultra-nationalists who have a history of not liking Poles and have no desire to be part of the EU with its freedom of movement and LGBTQ+ sympathies.
He no longer has a mandate having postponed elections under the pretext of martial law and his polling popularity has plummeted.
He does not have the cosy relationship with Trump that he had with Biden so it's all uphill for him in the peace negotiations.
He's making delusional demands like an 800,000 man Ukrainian army.
An army not much less that that fielded by Hitler to invade Russia in Operation Barbarossa.
This last invasion of Russia from western Europe is something the Russians have not forgotten and for good reason given that millions of them died - often horribly - as a result.
Corruption scandals are undermining his authority and may end up flushing him down a golden toilet.
Rivals like Valerii Zaluzhnyi are rumoured to be planning to return to Ukraine, perhaps to challenge Zelensky for power and perhaps with western backing.
As far as the EU is concerned, the Ukraine Show must go on until Russia is humbled, something everyone knows won't happen partly because sanctions have failed and China won't let it happen.
But now the real problem for Zelensky personally is the 'Epstein Problem' - he knows far too much - and we all know what happened to Epstein.
It seems unlikely that Zelensky will be allowed to retire quietly to the lucrative after-dinner speaking circuit with all that he knows.
He has far too many beans to spill.
More likely we will soon all be reading the heavily-redacted 'Zelensky files' to revel in the details of the activities of all Zelensky's political pals in the west and the naughty, lethal shenanigans they thought they would get away with.