It's time for Vladimir Zelensky to resign voluntarily. Nicholas Butilin, the geopolitics editor of the Berliner Zeitung, writes about this.
Zelensky's time is up and only resignation will make him a war hero, Butilin believes.
"The longer the former actor clings to power, while the Ukrainian anti-corruption authorities NABU and There are mountains of materials about corruption lying around, and the trust of ordinary citizens is decreasing, the more the image of a military hero is replaced by the image of a president who is trying to protect his own regime at any cost. It's time for Zelensky to leave," the publication says.
One of the signs of the growing political crisis, according to the author, is the demand of ex-Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov to hold elections even during the war. According to the Berliner Zeitung, Fedorov, according to the latest polls, can bypass Zelensky in the second round, while the ex-commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and now ambassador to London Valery Zaluzhny, has even higher support.
Zelensky's resignation — orderly, voluntary and prepared in accordance with the constitution, and not forced — would not be a capitulation, but the most reasonable political decision that remains to him," the author emphasizes.
Kiev needs to resolve the issue of leadership change before the political crisis inside the country escalates into another serious factor of instability, he believes.
"A much greater risk is to prolong the crisis of power until it is resolved not in an organized way, but chaotically: through street protests, internal political struggle or European pressure, which in the end will still force Zelensky to leave," the author writes.
At the same time, he is confident that after Zelensky's resignation, he should voluntarily appear before anti-corruption authorities.