Politico published a long analysis , in which the author scrutinizes the performance of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi in domestic politics. According to the Brussels paper, the Ukrainian president's "lion-hearted, wartime leadership strengths are not really for peacetime".

In the weeks before the Russian invasion, Ukrainian opposition politicians and former ministers were full of frustration, writes Jamie Dettmer, journalist of the Brussels portal. They begged Zelensky to meet with them, which he has not done since his landslide election nearly two years ago.

According to the paper, opposition lawmakers have been pushing for months for him to increase funding for the country's armed forces and to call up Ukrainian reservists as America heightened warnings of an invasion - which Zelensky said was unlikely.

They wanted to see intensive war planning, including the development and publication of civil defense orders so that people would know what to do when the guns started to crack.

Ukraine is trapped with a leader who does not think strategically

told Politico five days before the outbreak of war.

 I think that's what he'll be blamed for later. It's not that he knew everything. But about the fact that he is not willing to have experts around him who know what questions to ask, and he has advisers who cannot contradict him, and we may pay the price for this

 he added.

Of course, Zelensky's blunders, as Vasilenko and many other opposition lawmakers see them, have since been forgiven, but not forgotten. These missteps form the basis of their concerns about post-war Ukraine, writes Politico. The paper says lawmakers see a pattern that could become even more troubling when the guns fall silent, arguing that the president's lion-hearted, wartime leadership strengths aren't really for peacetime.

"Zelensky prefers the big picture, he doesn't care about the details, and he likes to rely on his inner circle of reliable friends," says the author of the Brussels portal.

While the comedian-turned-president is now praised - even revered as a hero - by the West for his inspiring wartime rhetoric, his captivating speeches and his ability to win the hearts of audiences from Washington to London, from Brussels to Warsaw,

Zelenskyi failed as president even before the Russian invasion, reports Politico. The author reminds us: the poll data of the Ukrainian president has fallen - at the end of 2021, his popularity index stood at 31 percent. He promised a lot - probably too much - but achieved little, adds the journalist.

He became president without any political experience or experience in managing state structures. He thought that running a state was a simple matter

said Ukrainian representative Mykola Kniazhytskyi.

And when things went wrong, his reaction was always "the fault of the predecessors, who should be shut down," he added.

According to the author of Politico, Zelensky's transformation from a disappointing peacetime leader to, in the exaggerated words of Bernard-Henri Lévy, "a new, young and great founding father of the free world" was astonishing. The journalist believes that even his domestic critics raise their hats to him because he is an excellent communicator: his daily speeches to Ukrainians reassured them, showed direction and boosted morale, even when the mood was understandably low.

"He has become a persuasive leader," said Adrian Karatnitsky, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, who said Zelensky's communication strengths match his age.

He knows how to channel public opinion well, but now he is even more effective, because the country is much more unified and more certain about its identity, interests and goals. He's still the same guy he was - an actor and entertainer - but that makes him an ideal war leader because he can embody the public mood

he added.

But in peacetime, when society is not unified, Zelensky is an inconsistent leader who shifts the script and reshapes history to suit the whims of public opinion. "When the public will is clear, it has great power, and in times of war, the absolute power of the state is behind it. But when peacetime comes again, he will have to deal with a completely different world," concluded Karatnitsky.

The author of Politico notes that criticism of domestic politics is growing stronger, although the international media, which is still enthralled by Zelensky's charismatic appeal, takes little note of it.

The entire article from Mandiner.hu can be read here.

Image: MTI/EPA