Unrealistic War Aims and a 'Deluded' Zelensky

Victory has been defined as the retaking of all lost territory, but there is virtually no way that the Ukrainian military can achieve that goal in its current state.

Time reports on Zelensky and the Ukrainian war effort. The reporting is mostly very sympathetic to Zelensky and Ukraine’s predicament, and that makes this passage all the more damning:

But his convictions haven’t changed. Despite the recent setbacks on the battlefield, he does not intend to give up fighting or to sue for any kind of peace. On the contrary, his belief in Ukraine’s ultimate victory over Russia has hardened into a form that worries some of his advisers. It is immovable, verging on the messianic. “He deludes himself,” one of his closest aides tells me in frustration. “We’re out of options. We’re not winning. But try telling him that.” [bold mine-DL]

Zelensky’s stubbornness, some of his aides say, has hurt their team’s efforts to come up with a new strategy, a new message. As they have debated the future of the war, one issue has remained taboo: the possibility of negotiating a peace deal with the Russians.

When a wartime leader becomes fixated on an increasingly implausible “victory,” that leader’s country ends up making unnecessary sacrifices because of the leader’s inflexibility and refusal to face reality. Ukraine’s counteroffensive has been very costly, and it is impossible to ignore that it has not yielded significant territorial gains. If ever there were a time for the Ukrainian government to begin contemplating a ceasefire leading to a more durable armistice, it is now, but their political leadership is still hung up on the fantasy of achieving a major victory.