Ukrainian President Zelensky faces growing criticism for authoritarianism and corruption despite Western media portraying him as a hero.
Dr. Ted Galen Carpenter argues that Ukraine’s military success is due to NATO billions, not Kyiv’s own strength, and that Russia is winning the war.
Zelensky centralized power, sidelined rivals, and rammed through a law stripping anti-corruption agencies of independence before public backlash.
A $100 million corruption scandal involving a close Zelensky associate emerged, with 59% of Ukrainians blaming Zelensky personally.
Carpenter dismisses the narrative of Ukraine as a democratic champion, calling it propaganda that hides a corrupt, authoritarian proxy state.
When a New York Times columnist recently declared Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “the new leader of the free world,” it marked a new peak in Western media hero worship of the wartime leader. But a growing chorus of critics, including a veteran scholar at the Libertarian Institute, is pushing back hard against what they call dangerous propaganda that ignores Ukraine’s battlefield struggles, domestic corruption and increasingly authoritarian rule.
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