Unless there is a coup in the Kremlin, or Ukraine’s armed forces surprise the Russians like the Japanese once did, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is going to face excruciating decisions in the weeks and months to come. He has gone from being a national celebrity — a winner on Dancing with the Stars and a role as his nation’s president on TV — to a reformist political figure, turned president, turned international hero.

Already, reports out of Israel and Turkey on the ongoing talks between Ukraine and Russia reveal what a cease-fire and post-war settlement might look like. Various reports have suggested that to save more lives, to spare the rest of his nation the horror of war, Zelensky may accept to see neutrality written into the Ukrainian constitution. Or he may accept the territorial claims Russia has made, in one form or another.

Like Collins, Zelensky will move very quickly from being the man who stood up to Vladimir Putin to the man who negotiated with him — who signed what was presented to him, or faced being responsible for yet more “immediate and terrible war.”