The Stakes Are Higher Than Life: What Zelensky's Letter to Putin Means
Zelensky has acted differently over all these years than many of us would have acted in his place, writes Mikola Bugai.
Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky. Photo: Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP; AP
Vladimir Putin called Zelensky's letter to him «insolence».
Putin is used to people groveling before him. But Zelensky's letter looks like an ultimatum, like something Putin cannot agree to. In fact, Zelensky raises the stakes to the maximum: he is betting on fighting until the moment when Russia will clearly no longer be happy with this war, then a new February 1917 will occur.
Zelensky has acted differently over all these years than many of us would have acted in his place.
In 2022, he remained to lead the defense of Kyiv — in a situation where any other head of state would have evacuated to the west of the country.
In 2025, he declared to Trump: it's scary to lose an ally, but even scarier — to lose dignity. This was in a situation where the leaders of all other states on the planet, except China, were appeasing Trump.
And now this letter to Putin.
Propaganda in Minsk interpreted Zelensky's letter as acting.
I see no romanticism, bravado, or acting in Zelensky's current actions. I see his characteristic stoicism with a smile on his lips, just like four years ago, and a year ago.
Zelensky understands that there's no way to negotiate amicably with Putin and those like him. Zelensky understands it this way: only when Putin pays with power or his life for this war, for these mountains of corpses, only then will Ukraine and Europe (I would add — and Belarusians too) be able to live peacefully. It doesn't matter much where this war stops, it doesn't matter much if these damned Mala Tokmachka and Velyka Komyshuvakha are eventually captured. What is important is that Putin pays for the war with his power. Only this can give hope for lasting peace in Europe.
The stakes are higher than life. Zelensky backs Putin into a corner, at one end of which is the acknowledgment of his own mistake and guilt, at the other — a new February 1917. The risk is that Putin still has nuclear weapons. However, Zelensky hopes that Russian elites, the Russian general staff, will not allow attempts to push the button, which will put an end to this slaughter.