So how does a politician rising to a battle cry start wooing people around the world who are watching the war from afar?

“We need something to believe in right now… We are all functioning on fumes. We’re in three years of a pandemic… burnout is at an unprecedented high here in the U.S. and likely in other countries,” Dr. Aditi Nerurkar, a doctor with expertise in stress and resilience, told The Daily Beast. “That sense of needing a hero and savior is now more pronounced than ever” with a war raging on, Nerurkar, who has previously worked with the World Health Organization on refugee health, told The Daily Beast…

Zelensky is a worldwide sensation now, and has perhaps gained a level of admiration that Putin has always craved. And it’s Putin himself—having carefully tried to build his own following by releasing curated, bare-chested propaganda hunting videos for years in an attempt to project strength and machismo—who has seemingly forced the moment on Zelensky, and thrust him to his now iconic standing, just when Putin is trying to beat him down.