Ukraine: Global - The importance of maintaining the image of a strong political leader of a country at war, and how Ukraine has been shaping its image abroad

The importance of maintaining the image of a strong political leader of a country at war, and how Ukraine has been shaping its image abroad

05/29/23 • 17 min

Every politician suits a particular time and epoch. And their actions and image are necessary and helpful for the country he leads at that time. In 1960 John Fitzgerald Kennedy helped shape the image of America. Winston Churchill was the face of Britain in the times of the Second World War. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba have been working on keeping up a good image of Ukraine abroad. These are just some examples, because we also need to talk about simple people who help build the country, not just public figures.

Considering all this, we can agree that the image of the country’s leaders plays an important role in framing the image of the country they head. Over the last year, Ukraine transformed into a potentially successful and influential. European state from a corrupt country with a weak political class. In some way, the war helped unite the population around one enemy. We are just at the beginning of the Ukrainian success story. And we hope that inner conflicts inside the country will not stop us from promoting a good image of Ukraine abroad.

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Ukraine's most loyal ally – Poland and the importance of the NATO Summit in Vilnius for Ukraine

This edition of Ukraine Global is about Ukraine's most loyal ally – Poland and the importance of the NATO Summit in Vilnius for Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made an international voyage to Europe. One of the countries he visited was Poland.

RUI's Viktoria Kriukova talked with Anton Shekhovtsov, a Ukrainian political scientist, academic, and writer. He believes that a lot depends on the July NATO summit in Vilnius. That is where diplomacy can help to get more weapons for our soldiers. How awful it may sound, but war times became a period when you would know who your real enemy and friend were. We know who our enemy is, and now Ukrainians know that Poland is definitely Ukraine's biggest friend and ally. Despite many historical disagreements – we found a common language and united before the enemy's eyes. Now everyone is waiting for Ukraine's counteroffensive, and we keep our fingers crossed for Ukrainian soldiers to show good results on the battlefield and Ukrainian diplomats behind closed doors of the summit in Vilnius.

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The conflicts unfolding inside of Ukraine and their reflection in modern culture

Ukraine is at war. Danish queen Gertrude, one of the main characters of the newly adapted play Hamlet, staged in the theater of Lesya Ukrainka, repeated once and once again. «It is not the time for quarreling and fighting with each other because we need to drive the enemy out of our land.» Anabell Ramires, actress and director in ProEnglish theater, together with international partners staged a Ukrainian adaptation of Hamlet and shed some light on the topic of social network conflicts. RUI’s Viktoriya Kriukova talked with Anabell.