The Economist notes that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is angry; not about the successes of his enemies (he sees none) nor even about his own army’s lack of progress on the battlefield.  Instead, Ukraine’s president is exasperated by the wobbles of some of his allies as well as the detachment among some of his compatriots.

The Economist says that hardened by the pressures of war, a year of negative headlines and the failure of a counter-offensive that promised so much at the start of 2023, “he has shed the lightness and humor that characterized our earlier meetings with him.” 

If the West leaves Ukraine without support and allows Russia to win, the war will spread to NATO and EU countries, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview with The Economist on January 1.

“By giving us money or weapons, you are supporting yourselves,” said Zelenskyy.  “You are saving your children, not ours.  Putin senses weakness, like an animal, because he is an animal.  He smells blood, he feels his strength. And he will eat you for dinner with all your EU, NATO, freedom, and democracy.”

That’s why European countries should lobby for U.S. aid to Ukraine.  The intelligence services of several European countries have begun to explore the possibility of an attack on their territory by Russia, and it's not just about the former Soviet republics, according to Zelenskyy.