KYIV

WHEN YOUR BIGGEST backer calls you a dictator and a thief, then you in trouble.

Ukraine’s President Zelensky, who until a few weeks ago was the Churchill of eastern Europe, has suddenly found himself being labelled a criminal, by the President of the very country that has urged him to fight Russia for the past few years, pouring billions into his military machine, and screaming “victory is just around the corner” every time a Ukrainian tank fires a round.

“The full power of US spin will not be easy to avoid,” says military analyst Erwin Bonaparte. “What he needs to be afraid of now, is a ‘popular rising’, a la Maidan, demanding his resignation, and an unfortunate ending for him. He is currently being offered a way out, he might think of taking it. Because he is being told to go.”