When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in .

You've reached your limit of one free article.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime .

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Exclusive International news coverage

Ad-free experience NEW

Weekly digital Magazine NEW

9 daily & weekly Newsletters

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Free trial

30-days free access, then $2.90
per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

And If It Had Been Zelensky? How The War Became Bigger Than Any One Person

Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs Denys Monastyrsky was killed Wednesday in a helicopter crash. The cause is still unknown, but the high-profile victim could just have well been President Zelensky instead. It raises the question of whether there are indispensable figures on either side in a war of this nature?

Photo of ​Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky looking down in a cemetery in Lviv on Jan. 11

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Lviv on Jan. 11

Anna Akage

-Analysis-

The news came at 8 a.m., local time: a helicopter had crashed in Brovary, near Kyiv, with all the top management of Ukraine's Ministry of Internal Affairs on board, including Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky. There were no survivors.

Having come just days after a Russian missile killed dozens in a Dnipro apartment, the first thought of most Ukrainians was about the senseless loss of innocent life in this brutal war inflicted on Ukraine. Indeed, it occurred near a kindergarten and at least one of the dozens killed was a small child.

Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage.

Sign up to our free daily newsletter.

But there was also another kind of reaction to this tragedy, since the victims this time included the country's top official for domestic security. For Ukrainians (and others) have been wondering — regardless of whether or not the crash was an accident — if instead of Interior Minister Monastyrsky, it had been President Volodymyr Zelensky in that helicopter. What then?


Indeed, the Ukrainian president was asked about it during his video appearance at the WEF summit in Davos on Wednesday. Without blinking, he said he is not afraid of being targeted, and is focused on getting Ukraine the military aid it needs from Western allies.

But posing this question, at this moment — imagining Ukraine without its now iconic war leader — offers a surprising moment of clarity.

What's in a name?

Sure, Volodymyr Zelensky is far more recognizable than Denys Monastyrsky, or even Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces. Both inside and outside of Ukraine. It is also undeniable that Zelensky's courage in the first days and weeks of the war were vital, even decisive, in rallying the armed forces and the nation — and the rest of the world — to repel the Russian onslaught.

The Ukrainian people have lost too much

Even six months ago, perhaps, we might imagine that the loss of Zelensky could have changed the course of the war, and our collective history.

But not now.

And it's not because the names and personalities don't matter. Quite the opposite: All the names have become far too important. The Ukrainian people have lost too much, have paid too high a price in taking on a bigger, better-armed enemy daily.

Yes, Zelensky's role continues to be critical, and he remains enormously popular. Yes, his premature death would be painful for the nation. But by now, both the war machine and mobilized national war effort have reached maturity. Ukrainians are driven by a love for their nation and hatred of the enemy that extends far beyond any one person.

If Putin was gone ...

But there is a seemingly paradoxical analogy on the other side of this war.

The situation in Russia also seems to be riding on one man: It is Vladimir Putin who decided to go to war, who is uniting the nation behind his false pretext for the invasion and brutal targeting of innocent lives, doubling down with a nationwide mobilization last fall.

And yet, here as well, a change of the leader will not change anything. Even if Putin suddenly died before dinner tonight, this war will be with us for many more meals to come. Russian soldiers will continue shooting at Ukrainian residential houses, not because of love for their homeland, but because a new set of superiors are driven by the same fear and thirst for power as Putin.

Photo of \u200bpeople paying tribute to the victims of the helicopter crash in Brovary

People paying tribute to the victims of the helicopter crash in Brovary

Sergei Chuzavkov/SOPA Images/ZUMA

Beyond leaders

A nation that grew up fearful of NATO attacks, Western influence, LGBTQ rights, and a post-Christian soulless culture will continue to fight, will be ready for sacrifice.

The propaganda-washed brains of their so-called "deep people," that is, the tens of millions of people living outside of Moscow and St. Petersburg, have long ago formed a picture of their reality, and will not give it up just because some other blue-ish corpse of the leader in the Kremlin casket will replace Lenin.

The conclusion suggests itself: This is not a war between Putin and Zelensky; it is a war between Russia and Ukraine, a war between two tectonic plates of time, where one has moved into the future, and the other is permanently stuck in the past.

Perhaps the only comfort for Ukrainians right now is about the very nature of time, which can only move forward.

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

FOCUS: Israel-Palestine War

Freedom Fighters? A Ukrainian Lesson For Israel From The Algerian Revolution

Public sympathy for Hamas terrorists has precedents. Algeria's liberation in the 1960s from French colonial rule is viewed by history as a wholly just cause, despite horrific attacks against civilians. What does the analogy tell us about Israel's current situation?

Photograph of Israeli forces extracting the dead bodies of Israeli residents from a destroyed house.​

October 10, 2023, Israel, Kfar Aza: Israeli forces extract the dead bodies of Israeli residents from a destroyed house.

Ilia Yefimovich/ZUMA
Mykhailo Dubynyanskyi

-Analysis-

KYIV — As of one month ago, Ukraine is no longer the only major conflict on the global stage. The world found itself divided between those who sympathize with and those who criticize the actions of the state of Israel.

In Ukraine, there is substantial support for Israel, with many viewing the conflict between Israel and Hamas as a struggle between civilization and barbarism. The horrific killings of Israeli men, women, children and the elderly on October 7 are considered an unforgivable crime, like so many suffered recently by Ukrainians.

For the latest news & views from every corner of the world, Worldcrunch Today is the only truly international newsletter. Sign up here.

The rest of the world, instead, has a myriad of differing perspectives. From certain left-wing activists in the West to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, we hear references to Hamas as a "liberation organization."

Yes, this is public sympathy for terrorists, but it has historical precedents.

Keep reading...Show less

The latest