Zelenskyy continues his self-victimization routine to draw media attention to himself. What surprises me is how many people are willing to excuse his every action and treat him as nothing more than a tool in the fight against Trump, while completely ignoring the tragic consequences this is having for Ukraine. No one forced him to pick fights with so many countries. Ukraine had never been in open conflict with the United States before. Just days earlier, it was South Korea. Months before that, Poland. Before that, Hungary and Slovakia, and earlier still, public rebukes from Britain and the Netherlands. The list is long. While everyone was busy attacking Trump, almost no one looked at the other side of the story: the man who is supposed to be Ukraine’s chief diplomat has created a trail of public quarrels with the very partners helping us in this war. How long can people keep falling for these emotional manipulations? I understand that many in the West have never lived through a war and are therefore more susceptible to the drama. But some basic logic should still apply. In just the past few days, Zelenskyy has repeatedly made claims that do not hold up — about “Russian bots” and about how Trump should have struck a diesel deal with Ukraine, as if Ukraine somehow controlled Russian refineries. Most of what he says about the course of the war simply does not match reality. I hold Zelenskyy personally responsible for how cruel, illogical, and bloody this war has become — a war we are losing. We are not losing because of the Ukrainian army or because Russia is somehow invincible. We are losing because of a policy of lies, PR, and constant manipulation that is destroying the country and its relationships with the outside world. Political forces are happy to use him for their own battles. But someone has to state the obvious. It pains me to see what is happening in Ukraine. But are these not the logical consequences of the policies pursued by one man — Volodymyr Zelenskyy?