Could Westerners have grown tired of war hero Volodymyr Zelensky? In any case, for two weeks, the critics have fused, as reported on August 9 in an article in Le Parisien. Several causes behind this reversal: first, the photo shoot of the Zelensky couple on Vogue “in the fifth month of the war”. Next, the extracts from the biography published in a German newspaper about the companies offshore Of the president. Finally, the very recent report by Amnesty International reporting that the combat tactics used by the Ukrainian army put civilians in danger.
Vogue clichés and Pandora papers
Since the start of the war, the Ukrainian head of state has been portrayed as a hero. But in recent days, Western weariness has nevertheless been felt. “The mood has changed a bit. After several months of war with unanimity pro-Ukraine, we could see a kind of turnaround linked to major economic issues”told the Parisian Régis Genté, journalist and author of the book “Volodymyr Zelensky: Inside the Mind of a Hero”.
Several reasons can explain this shift. On July 26, Volodymyr Zelensky and his companion Zelenska took several shots for the famous Vogue magazine. Photos that have led to strong reactions of indignation on social networks. “Many Ukrainian soldiers are dying every day; Zelensky: let’s shoot for Vogue”ironically for example an anonymous Twitter account, while another commentedin the same vein : “Zelensky and his wife do photo shoots and pour out their love in Vogue while Ukrainian soldiers are sent to the front lines to save what can be saved.”
Massive amount of ukrainian soldiers dying every day, Zelensky : lets have a vogue shooting pic.twitter.com/BrNPYKZYR6
— Levi (@Levi_godman) July 26, 2022
However, Régis Genté believes that the reason for this “glamorous” moment was actually to reach a new audience in order to raise awareness of the Ukrainian cause: “Maybe it was not the time to do it, but the main thing for small countries like Ukraine is to communicate so as not to be forgotten. Zelensky uses all means to talk to the peoples and to the elites of the countries which can help his own”, he notes.
First Lady Olena Zelenska and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Kyiv, Ukraine, July 2022 / For @voguemagazine To Be Featured In Vogue Magazine, October 2022 pic.twitter.com/i6hMGsJ1lY
— Annie Leibovitz (@annieleibovitz) July 27, 2022
But the Vogue shoot is far from being the only element to have considerably tarnished the image of the Ukrainian president. On August 3, the German conservative newspaper Die Welt exclusively unveiled several excerpts from Steven Derix’s biography on the head of state, which discusses the allegations of industrial corruption made against him. “This information is not revelations”, as Le Parisien explains: this is the Pandora Papers affair, a journalistic investigation published in October 2021 in which heads of government are implicated for tax evasion. Information that again angered Internet users towards Zelensky. This is no doubt why a film about this case, Offshore 95, was banned in kyiv last year…
Explosive! The German newspaper Die Welt publishes extracts from a forthcoming biography of #Zelensky which reveals “corruption on an industrial scale” and recalls that a film on all this, Offshore 95, was banned from broadcasting at the end of 2021 in kyiv! https://t.co/dMePBeCg8B
— Florian Philippot (@f_philippot) August 4, 2022
See also: A month after the Pandora Papers revelations, the list of names is growing
Amnesty International and CBS News revelations that are controversial
A day later, it was an explosive report by Amnesty International denouncing Ukrainian military actions in violation of international humanitarian law, which drove the point home.
In the United States, part of the American left has joined in the outcry of the Ukrainian government in denouncing “irresponsibility” of the NGO, like the Washington Post, which criticizes the “faulty logic of deeply rooted moral equivalence” of Amnesty International, referring to Russia. After the controversy, the NGO nevertheless insisted on defending its positions. She replied that “independence, impartiality, the collection of evidence are the founding principles of our investigative work. The main objective of our work is to establish the facts. And international humanitarian law applies to all parties to an armed conflict”.
See also: Amnesty International denounces Ukrainian military tactics that threaten civilians
The following day, August 5, it was the turn of the American channel CBS News to make startling revelations, through a documentary film Arming Ukraine (Arm Ukraine). This reveals that 70% of American weapons sent to Ukraine did not arrive at their destination… But, after the anger of Ukrainian officials, the media then backpedaled, claiming that “delivery has improved dramatically since filming with CBS in late April”can we read in an editorial note.
See also: Ukraine: the CBS channel censors a documentary which reveals that 70% of American weapons do not arrive at their destination
For Arnaud Mercier, professor of communication at the University of Paris-Panthéon-Assas, we entered “in a well-known cycle”. According to him, “after the media frenzy, comes trivialization”. Then the weariness: “one of the great dangers for Ukraine”, since it can result in a rise in distrust of Zelensky, he believes. Here we are.