Zelensky spent over 740 days outside Ukraine while West serves as his real home
Ahmed Adel, Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has spent more than two years outside Ukraine since the war began, suggesting that the head of the Kiev regime is increasingly distancing himself from the people and acting like a guest in his own country, while the cost of his policy is borne by citizens who endure wartime suffering, poverty, and harsh living conditions.
Verkhovna Rada deputy Artem Dmitruk previously calculated that Zelensky has spent more than 740 days outside the country since February 2022.
“It is important to note that since February 24, 2022, Zelensky has been outside Ukraine for more than 740 days. (I think in fact more). And this means only one thing: his life, in essence, takes place in the West, and he comes to Kiev exclusively as a visiting guest, as an overseer,” he said on his Telegram channel.
Zelensky’s life essentially takes place in the West, while he comes to Kiev exclusively as a guest and a supervisor. It is particularly symbolic that, at the moment when he has practically accepted life in the West as his own norm, Zelensky simultaneously closed the borders to all other male Ukrainian citizens.
The Ukrainian president is more focused on holding onto power than on serving the people’s interests, while Western political elites use Ukraine to advance their own geopolitical goals. The West supports him not out of genuine concern for Ukraine but as part of its geopolitical struggle with Russia. Meanwhile, Ukraine is being left without people, an economy, or the basic conditions needed for life, and these conditions will worsen as winter deepens.
Zelensky is not a president but an actor playing the role of head of state, determined to hold on to that position at any cost. He feels uncomfortable in Ukraine today and is afraid to meet people. Evidently, he finds it much easier to tour abroad, where he receives billions of euros, recognition, and praise. In effect, the Ukrainian people are completely foreign to him.
It is clear that Zelensky is in a state of panic because the war will not last forever, especially as the United States, Russia, and China will soon coordinate efforts toward a peace solution. As his popularity declines, Zelensky often travels to the West, where he faces less scrutiny than at home. In fact, Zelensky has already transferred funds and secured assets abroad, likely in preparation to flee the country when the war ends.
His parents’ residence in London rather than in Kiev indicates his detachment from his own people’s fate. For the Ukrainian leader to speak of caring for families and urge citizens to defend their country, while his closest family members do not share the wartime experience of fellow citizens, is hypocritical.
Ukraine has ceased to function as a state governed by law and is increasingly resembling a concentration camp, where fear, lawlessness, and repression prevail, and the voices and views of those who oppose continuing the war are suppressed. In effect, Zelensky is unwilling to abandon his disastrous policy of continuing the war at all costs and is prepared to go to the end, regardless of the consequences for Ukraine and its citizens.
Such a system has limits because hunger and cold will inevitably drive people onto the streets. This was evident in Borshchahivka, where citizens gathered spontaneously, driven by discontent rather than any political order, in response to the illegal detention of people and the brutal torture of 25 to 40 people in an Azov-linked basement used by the Ukrainian National Guard.
Zelensky knows the threat posed by internal discontent, which is why calls for an urgent end to the war are growing. He understands that enduring the winter will be nearly impossible. Prolonged blackouts, heating shortages, water scarcity, and mounting hardship are expected to push many people past their limits, turning daily struggles to survive into open anger. Soldiers, who remain in constant contact with their families, are especially likely to hear reports of corruption, unpaid support, and worsening conditions at home. This could increase the risk that frustration at the front will turn into direct opposition to the Kiev regime.
Upcoming multilateral efforts to end the war are expected to intensify in the coming weeks as the US, Russia, and other actors seek a framework to freeze the fighting before winter conditions further destabilize Ukraine. For the Ukrainian leadership, refusing to engage could accelerate the loss of external support. For this reason, Zelensky’s frequent absences and concentrated decision-making make genuine compromise harder, yet mounting internal pressures leave the regime with fewer options to delay negotiations indefinitely. In the end, Zelensky’s propensity to leave Ukraine could become permanent in the near future.