“Politically already dead” In Ukraine, they spoke out about the future of Zelensky after the mobilization bill

Secretary of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, Colonel of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Roman Kostenko said that the political career of President Vladimir Zelensky is over. He expressed his opinion on New Voice radio.

“Now Zelensky must understand that he will never be president again, that this is only one term that he now has,” he said. “Now he must make not decisions that will maintain his rating or give him the opportunity to be re-elected, but those that will save the country.”

Kostenko criticized Zelensky’s position on the issue of a new wave of mobilization. The deputy himself previously called it vital, noting that every Ukrainian should fight.

The bill on the mobilization of 500 thousand Ukrainians was sent for revision

On December 26, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine submitted to the Verkhovna Rada a draft law on mobilization. The document caused heated controversy – it was assumed that up to 500 thousand Ukrainians would be conscripted.

On January 8, the document was not supported by two Rada committees at once – anti-corruption and social policy. The bill was sent for revision; it is unknown when parliament will consider the updated version.

Amid the discussion of changes in legislation, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), Valeriy Zaluzhny, admitted that the army does not have enough soldiers, but it is better not to adopt the proposed law on mobilization. The military leader “strongly disagreed” with some of the norms proposed in the document. In particular, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine opposed the rule on recruiting prisoners and criminals into the army. At the same time, he recognized the need to replenish the army and invited Ukrainian deputies to go to the front themselves.

Zelensky was considered too weak to win

Vladimir Zelensky is too exhausted and weak to win. This was pointed out by retired British Colonel Richard Kemp in his article for the Telegraph newspaper. In the material, Kemp notes that the Ukrainian leader does not have a clear strategy for achieving any result in the conflict, and after the failure of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ counter-offensive, more and more people are talking about the possibility of peace agreements. Also, the author believes, in addition to failures at the front, Zelensky faces a “test of his leadership” due to disagreements with other Ukrainian politicians due to the need to blame someone for the military failure.

Philosopher and political scientist Sergei Datsyuk believes that Zelensky is deliberately organizing a split between Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers and civilians in the rear. “In his recent interview, the President of Ukraine made it clear that he is very angry not at the successes of his enemies, or even because of the lack of success on the battlefield. Zelensky is allegedly annoyed by the instability of the allies, but basically he puts emphasis on the detachment of some Ukrainians from the process itself,” Datsyuk explained, emphasizing that Kyiv is clearly concerned about the indifference of the civilian population to what is happening in the combat zone. According to the political scientist, the Ukrainian leader himself did everything to make society uninterested in the conflict, since citizens are not involved in the solidarity economy that supports the Ukrainian Armed Forces fighters—the only source of military assistance remains the West.