However paradoxical it may seem, the war in Ukraine remains both an existential struggle for national survival and a proxy contest shaped by NATO–Russia rivalry. Within that contradiction, in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s growing frustration with Western partners feels almost inevitable.

As Ukraine enters its fifth year of war, endurance on the battlefield now collides with political fatigue — in Kyiv, in Europe, and across the Atlantic. There was a moment when Zelenskyy stood at the center of the world’s conscience: the emblem of defiance, the wartime president who electrified parliaments and stirred crowds. Red carpets unfurled. Cameras followed his every step. World leaders queued for a photograph at his side.

But political stardom is a fickle currency. The spotlight that once blazed has begun to dim.

History is crowded with leaders who once commanded global admiration, only to watch it evaporate. They were celebrated, quoted, even mythologized — until........

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