Those who have allowed Russian propaganda to turn them against Ukraine should reflect on the fact that they are the same types of people who would have given in to fascist propaganda in the 1930s.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the Winston Churchill of our time.
Making this statement on social media often brings a barrage of opposition from those who are either outright Russian propagandists or those who have failed to show the strength of intellect and willpower to avoid being manipulated by Russian propaganda narratives.
Yet, for those who have successfully resisted Russian propaganda, and those who have even a decent grasp of history, the Zelenskyy-Churchill parallels are clear.
Of course, there are some significant superficial differences. Churchill had a long political and military career before becoming Prime Minister, while Zelenskyy was best known as an actor. Churchill led a globe-spanning empire, while Zelenskyy led a singular nation without colonies or overseas territories. The UK was an economic power (often outproducing fascist Germany in key military material), while Ukraine’s economy is much smaller than that of Russia (though Ukrainian military industry and innovation is expanding rapidly).
However, the Zelenskyy-Churchill parallel is based on something deeper.
Both men represent the spirit of moral courage and the defence of freedom in opposition to a brutal invasion by a tyrannical regime. They are, in their own ways, both archetypes of a certain set of values at a crucial moment in history.
And now, let’s take a look at all the parallels
Physical courage
Like Winston Churchill visiting bombed-out areas of London amid the Blitz, Volodymyr Zelenskyy is a regular presence in areas where the Russians have bombed. Both Churchill and Zelenskyy remained in their capital cities even amid large-scale attacks, with Zelenskyy famously putting out a video the day the Russian invasion began alongside other government ministers declaring he was still in Kyiv.
When Citizens see their leader showing courage, that courage spreads. Remember, Russia thought Ukraine would fold in three days out of fear, just as the German fascists in WW2 thought bombing London would terrorize the United Kingdom into surrender. Yet in both cases, the leadership of Ukraine and the United Kingdom stood down the threat with resolve and their people stood firm.
Asking for help
I don’t use begging in a pejorative sense here. Winston Churchill knew the United Kingdom was facing an existential battle, just as Volodymyr Zelenskyy knows Ukraine is facing the same. Like Fascist Germany, Putin’s Russia believes it has the right to redraw borders through brutal aggression, torture and murder of dissidents, and the erasure of entire nations and peoples from existence. In a tragic irony, while much of the most brutal fighting of the Second World War took place on the territory of Ukraine, those same areas are host to brutal battles. In the 1940s, the Germans invaded from the West, while Putin now invades from the East.
Facing such a threat, Churchill did what he had to do, and that often meant asking for help. Despite the overall wealth of the British Empire at the time, the United Kingdom was nearly bankrupted by the cost of the war. After all, the UK and Canada stood alone for a year against the fascist menace, and the UK was thus faced with the full potential might of the German war machine.
Like Zelenskyy travelling the world today to speak up for his nation and ask for assistance, Churchill frequently travelled to the United States and other nations to push for assistance and make the case for supporting his nation against the fascists.
Churchill even spent three weeks at the White House following America’s entry into the war following Pearl Harbour.
Churchill wanted his nation to survive, and if that meant asking for help from everyone who could provide it, then he was going to do so. It’s like someone pulling out all the stops to save their family. If need be, you’ll get on your hands and knees and beg for help if that’s what it takes.
So, when people criticize Zelenskyy for ‘begging’ for help, that criticism shows a fundamental misunderstanding of what it means to be the leader of a nation fighting for its survival. Ukrainians are doing all the fighting and thus all the dying against Russia, while Zelenskyy simply asks for military aid and financial assistance to fund government operations. In asking for help, Zelenskyy is doing his job. Ukraine needs weapons and money to survive, and Zelenskyy’s job is to ensure his nation survives. So, just like Churchill, Zelenskyy must travel the world and ask for help.
We would expect the same of our own leadership. You can be damn sure that if Canada faced an existential war we would expect Prime Minister Carney to get us all the help he could muster. And even the most powerful nations ask for help, as the United States did after 9/11 when Article Five of NATO was invoked and Canada, alongside many other nations, including Ukraine, answered the call to assist the U.S. in Afghanistan.
Setting aside their ego
Like nearly all national leaders, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has a strong amount of self-confidence. In this regard, he shares much with Winston Churchill, who had a deep sense of his own destiny. Yet, both leaders set aside their egos when necessary.
It was humiliating for Churchill to ask Franklin Roosevelt for military assistance. Churchill thought of the United Kingdom as an empire that should have been able to handle any adversary on its own. But as the situation turned against the Allies and Germany seemed for a time unstoppable, Churchill assessed the situation and did what he had to do to get support.
Similarly, there’s no way Volodymyr Zelenskyy wanted to get berated in the Oval Office by Donald Trump and JD Vance, nor is he likely to enjoy having to flatter the U.S. President. But Ukraine depends upon assistance from many countries, including the United States, so flattering Trump and putting up with egregious treatment is the price Zelenskyy pays to increase the odds of Ukraine getting further assistance from the U.S.
And so, like Churchill before him, Zelenskyy puts aside his own short-term comfort for the good of his country.
Setting an example of standing up to tyranny
While the United States dominated the Second World War in terms of military production and economic power, Winston Churchill was still seen by many as the face of resistance to tyranny in that era. And that’s because Churchill was the first to truly stare down Germany’s fascist leadership, and by doing so catalyze further resistance around the world.
Churchill gave others the courage to resist, and victory in the Battle of Britain sent a signal to the world that the Axis powers could be beaten.
Similarly, Zelenskyy and Ukraine’s opposition to Russia, turning a ‘three-day special military operation’ into a grinding war of attrition that has caused over 1 million Russian casualties, has exposed Russia’s weaknesses and inspired other nations to recognize that tyranny can indeed be resisted with force.
And like Churchill, Zelenskyy leads a nation that stands for a set of values (democracy, individual freedom, human rights), that stand in stark contrast to the fundamentally evil worldview of their adversaries (fascist Germany & Putin’s Russia).
This doesn’t mean Zelenskyy is perfect, just as Churchill wasn’t perfect. Churchill lost re-election after the war, and the same could happen to Zelenskyy if he ran again. But what matters is that in the crucial moment, when they faced the choice between standing up to what seemed at the time to be unstoppable tyranny or giving in to that tyranny, both Churchill and Zelenskyy stood firm and by doing so became the archetypal example of defending freedom.
Overcoming cynicism
We live in a cynical era. Thus, many want to believe the worst about everything and everyone. Some even decide to invert morality and side with Russia against Ukraine.
At the same time, the free world has been flooded by Russian propaganda narratives, and many have fallen for those narratives. Thus, a portion of our society that sees itself as ‘free thinkers’ and ‘freedom fighters’ now believes every lie they hear about Zelenskyy and Ukraine, while simultaneously siding with Russia, a brutal totalitarian state.
At a time like this, we must work harder than ever to retain a sense of hope and have the strength to see through the lies.
Like there were in the Second World War, there are heroic figures and strong leaders today. Volodymyr Zelenskyy is one of them.
Spencer Fernando
Image – Facebook
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