Volodymyr Zelensky needs to rescue his own presidency

UKRAINE’S president, the comedian turned Churchillian war leader Volodymyr Zelensky, has backed down on his decision to seize control of the nation’s anti-corruption agencies. That averts a potential disaster for his country, and he deserves some credit for making the U-turn. But what to do with him now?

Zelensky’s heroic armour has been shattered. His misstep should serve as a reminder that he was not a popular president before Russia’s full invasion in February 2022, with an approval rating that hovered around 25 per cent. It was his response to the war, both genuinely gritty and brilliantly produced by the presidential staff he had drawn from his old TV company, Kvartal 95, that made him a geopolitical rock star.

This romantic image, reflected in his khaki T-shirts and fabled response to a US offer of evacuation in the first hours of fighting – “I need ammunition, not a ride” – was always going to fade. But it is the corruption that went on beneath the cover of martial law that has been exposed and cannot now be unseen.