Thousands are dead, a million are homeless, and hundreds of billions of dollars of property and businesses have been destroyed.
With NATO's help, Zelenskyy could have turned Ukraine into a giant and perpetual thorn in Russia's rear end after an armistice was signed.
Zelensky is seeming to, in a historical sense, doing what the founding fathers did during the revolutionary war. Long odds, and they went to France for some backups, but they knew they’d win soon or later if if they died in the process.
Zelensky is going to be one of the biggest heroes of the year, and if they martyr him, wow.
“With NATO’s help, Zelenskyy could have turned Ukraine into a giant and perpetual thorn in Russia’s rear end after an armistice was signed.”
No, if Zelensky had surrendered, been kidnapped, or killed - which is what the Russians really wanted - there simply wouldn’t be an independent Ukraine at all. The Russians want a puppet state. Most people, including patriotic Americans, would rather have their country burnt to a crisp than to capitulate and become a vassal/client state for a foreign power. You apparently would greet our conquerors by kissing their feet. I would rather seem them dead. And if the=at means my country has to suffer tremendously to keep its freedom, I can live (or die) with that and have a perfectly clear conscience.