Patrick Wintour, The Guardian ; The phone has become the Ukrainian president’s most effective weapon
"One leader’s office said: “We are in awe of him. He may not eventually be able to save Ukraine, or change Russia, but he is changing Europe.”
Take Saturday’s diplomacy. Zelensky said he opened another day on the diplomatic frontline with a phone call to Emmanuel Macron, followed as the day progressed with calls to the European Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, the Italian prime minister, Mario Draghi, the president of Switzerland, Ignazio Cassis, the prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Azerbaijani president, Ilham Aliyev, the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, the Pope, the Czech prime minister, Petr Fiala, the Polish president, Andrzej Duda, and finally a virtual nightcap with the British prime minister.
The day before, the number of calls was similar, all focused on requests for arms and tougher sanctions. Quite how Zelenskiy managed to make these calls, rally the home front, direct his army and sleep is hard to fathom. One who has heard him in action says: “He is very direct, very passionate and very practical.” But the calls have produced golden rewards for Zelenskiy and helped turn the tide."
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