How Brand Ukraine's defiance and diplomacy won over the West

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's rallying cries matched by lobbying behind closed doors

No 10 Downing Street lit up in blue and yellow in solidarity with Ukraine. EPA

In the West, two words have become a familiar cry when discussing the war: “Slava Ukraini”, or glory to Ukraine.

In one year of conflict with Russia, Ukraine has transformed its image in the western world, stirring some powerful countries to put their money and weapons behind its cause.

Brand Ukraine is everywhere in Europe, with its blue and yellow flag fluttering over Downing Street and pinned to jackets and social media profiles.

In south-west London, travel agent Shona Lyons, 55, ordered a box of Ukrainian flags to decorate her street a year ago.

This week, she plans to raise them again to show her solidarity a year after the invasion.

She said people like her have to show support “if you’re happy to live in a free democracy”.

Ukrainian flags displayed in Twickenham, south-west London, shortly after the Russian invasion. PA

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Brand Ukraine’s most visible face, drawing on all his acting talent to inspire his European and American allies, and cajoling his fellow leaders so well that they compete to win his approval.

It helps to explain why Nato countries, which a year ago were sending helmets and small arms they insisted were defensive, were now providing battle tanks, missile launchers and considering whether to offer fighter jets.

But the lobbying does not end with Mr Zelenskyy. It often takes place at a subtler level, using social media and behind-the-scenes contacts to build support for Ukraine’s cause.

On a recent visit to London, four Ukrainian women put their case to think tank experts, former diplomats and others, who might in turn relay Ukraine’s case in the media.

“Ukraine has to win, but the UK and other very well-developed states, powerful friends of Ukraine, have to work hard on this topic,” said one of the women, Olga Aivazovska, the head of a civil society group in Ukraine.

There is no doubt the war has profoundly moved and outraged many people in Europe, and that many sympathise with Ukraine.

But some of its concrete demands, such as tanks, planes and kicking Russia out of international forums, have needed more time before policymakers are persuaded.

The women in London divided up their lobbying efforts, with some focusing on Ukraine’s military needs, while Ms Aivazovska made the case for a special tribunal to prosecute the Russian leadership.

“We know that the Security Council will not adopt any decision because of Russia’s veto and China’s position. But this political decision on the General Assembly level can be promoted by UK representatives, too,” she told The National.

Senior officials are similarly well informed about which political strings to pull. The focus of Mr Zelenskyy’s address to the UK Parliament was a theatrical appeal to provide fighter jets, a cause which MPs inspired by the speech can take up with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Addressing the European Parliament the next day, Ukraine's President did not waste his time asking for jets from an assembly with little influence on the subject, instead depicting his nation as a warrior for European values.

His case was that Ukraine should swiftly become a member of the EU, a prospect that seemed a long way off before the Russian invasion.

President Zelenskyy sought to inspire British MPs with an address at Westminster Hall this month. Getty

Former German chancellor Angela Merkel last year said the view of Ukraine as “a corrupt country, ruled by oligarchs” had made it impossible to admit it to Nato at a fateful summit in 2008.

Corruption in Ukraine was what enmeshed Mr Zelenskyy in an American political scandal, when former president Donald Trump asked him for a personal favour linked to an ethics inquiry.

Even now, the EU says Ukraine has much to do when it comes to anti-corruption and the rule of law, but Mr Zelenskyy has won candidate status and a promise that the blue-and-yellow flag will one day be raised in Brussels.

His speeches are littered with allusions to the history and culture of the country he is addressing. In his Westminster Hall address, he invoked Winston Churchill, the UK’s royals and the British fondness for tea.

He wore a jumper branded with United24, a fund-raising programme for Ukraine, in a twist on the familiar olive-green combat wear in which he was depicted when named Time magazine’s Person of the Year.

One official from a western country said they had never seen a leader resonate as well as Mr Zelenskyy in their lifetime, or a wartime leader put their country’s case so effectively.

But they said Ukraine’s success in the information war was not merely down to Mr Zelenskyy’s comic timing — it was also because of solid communications across the board.

One western country says it is not providing Ukraine with strategic communications training because "they don't need it".

The image of Ukrainian women and children fleeing the war moved many people in Europe to help. AP

Ukrainian social media channels often make the case for solidarity on Twitter, Telegram and Facebook, countering what they describe as Russian misinformation about the war.

A quote that was a vulgar rebuke to Russian warships by Ukrainian radio operators on Snake Island was immortalised on a postage stamp.

Russia, by contrast, has struggled for a coherent narrative around its campaign, with its claim to be fighting neo-Nazis in Ukraine now heard less often after gaining little traction.

An EU communications task force this month said Russia had used pro-Kremlin outlets to blame Nato for the war, divide western opinion and obfuscate alleged Russian war crimes.

But support for Ukraine remains broadly strong in the West, where it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Kyiv is winning the information war.

One year of the Russia-Ukraine war — in pictures

February 24 will be a year since Russia started the Ukraine war. The National picks out the most powerful images from the conflict. AFP

A member of Ukraine's 79th Air Assault Brigade fires a rocket-propelled grenade at Russian positions near Marinka in February. Reuters

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses MPs in Westminster Hall, London, in February 2023. Getty Images

Destroyed buildings 32km west of the front lines in Donetsk in January. Getty Images

An anti-aircraft gun in January fires at Russian positions near Bakhmut, Donetsk. Reuters

Destruction in the village of Bohorodychne, Donetsk. AFP

A Ukrainian artilleryman discards an empty shell on the outskirts of Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine, in December 2022. AFP

Children receive presents from a Ukrainian soldier dressed as Santa on Christmas Eve in Sloviansk. Getty Images

More than 1,000 missiles and rockets fired by Russian forces collected for cataloguing in Kharkiv in December 2022. Getty Images

The Metro provides shelter as Russia launches another missile attack on Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, in December 2022. Getty Images

Children at a PE class in Kyiv after Russia abandoned its attempt to seize the capital in November 2022. Getty Images

A sniper searches for Russian positions on the bank of the Dnipro river in Kherson in November 2022. Getty Images

Graffiti by Banksy on a wall among the debris in Borodyanka in November 2022. Getty Images

Ukrainian flags flutter around graves in a cemetery for soldiers killed in action in Kharkiv in October 2022. Getty Images

Parts of a drone, which Ukrainian authorities said was Iranian-made, after a Russian strike in Kyiv in October 2022. Reuters

An elderly woman is helped across a damaged bridge in Bakhmut in October 2022. Getty Images

Fuel tanks ablaze on damaged sections of the Kerch bridge in Crimea, in October 2022. Reuters

A destroyed bridge makes crossing the Donets river difficult, in Staryi Saltiv, east of Kharkiv, in September 2022. AFP

Firefighters at a thermal power plant in Kharkiv damaged by a Russian missile strike in September 2022. Reuters

Ukrainian soldier Oleksandr with his daughter Nikole at Lviv railway station in August 2022. Getty Images

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and then-British prime minister Boris Johnson read a plaque in Kyiv in August 2022 dedicated to the latter for his support. Getty Images

Destroyed Russian military equipment on Khreshchatyk street in Kyiv. The materiel was turned into an open-air military museum ahead of Ukraine's Independence Day on August 24. AFP

Shakhtar Donetsk v Metalist Kharkiv kicks off the Ukrainian Premier League season in August 2022 amid fears of bomb and missile alerts. EPA

Ukrainian servicemen fire an American-made 155mm M777 howitzer in July 2022 in the Kharkiv area. EPA

A bomb crater on the Antonovsky bridge across the Dnipro river in Kherson, July 2022. AFP

Maksym and Andrii with plastic guns at a 'checkpoint' they set up while playing in Kharkiv, July 2022. AP

Ukrainian troops on Snake Island in June 2022. Reuters

A woman evacuated from an area of conflict in June 2022 contemplates what the next move might be. AP

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Kyiv in June 2022. Getty Images

Graves in Irpin cemetery, May 2022. Getty Images

A Ukrainian soldier trapped within the besieged Azovstal Iron and Steel Works complex in Mariupol in May 2022. Reuters

The wreckage of a Russian helicopter in a bomb-cratered field in Biskvitne, May 2022. Getty Images

A Ukrainian army officer inspects a grain warehouse shelled by Russian forces in May 2022 near Novovorontsovka, Kherson. Getty Images

A boy from Mariupol arriving at an evacuation point in Zaporizhzhia in May 2022. Getty Images

A Russian serviceman on guard outside Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in May 2022. AFP

Oksana searches for salvageable items on the destroyed second floor of her home in Hostomel, April 2022. Getty Images

A floral memorial wall in Lviv for Ukrainian civilians killed during the Russian invasion, April 2022. Getty Images

People fleeing Lviv, eastern Ukraine, in April 2022, wait for a bus that will take them to Poland. Getty Images

A Russian soldier patrols a bombed Mariupol theatre in April 2022, as Moscow intensified its campaign to take the strategic port city. AFP

A Ukrainian celebrates success in Hostomel in April 2022. Getty Images

Julia Palovskaya reads to children during an air raid drill in the basement shelter at a preschool in Lviv, April 2022. Getty Images

Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Bucha in April 2022, where hundreds of bodies were found in the street and it was claimed the Russian leadership was responsible for killing civilians. AFP

Oleh Smolin, 23, who suffered leg injuries from Russian shelling in April 2022, in hospital in Chuhuiv. Getty Images

Fleeing refugees arrive at the border train station of Zahony, Hungary, in March 2022. Getty Images

A father says goodbye to his daughter on an evacuation train about to leave Odesa in March 2022. AFP

Ukrainians under a destroyed bridge as they try to cross the Irpin river on the outskirts of Kyiv in March 2022. AP

People cram into Kyiv station to catch trains to Poland or to western parts of Ukraine, shortly after the initial invasion in February 2022. Getty Images

A demonstration in support of Ukraine in Trafalgar Square, London, February 2022 . Getty Images

Russian army vehicles in Armyansk, Crimea, in February 2022. AFP

Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on February 25, 2022, in a video on Facebook. He said 'we are all here', shortly after the Russian invasion began. AFP

A residential building damaged by a missile strike in Kyiv in February 2022. Getty Images

A metro station in Kyiv in February 2022, crowded with people trying to escape the invasion. AFP

A police officer addresses people gathered to protest against the invasion of Ukraine, in central Saint Petersburg, Russia, February 2022. AFP

A protester in support of Ukraine, in Berlin, Germany, in February 2022. Getty Images

Ukrainian soldiers prepare to repel an attack in Ukraine's Lugansk region on February 24, 2022. AFP

Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on February 24, 2022, after Russia launched a full-scale invasion. AFP

A mass exodus from Kyiv after pre-offensive missile strikes by Russian armed forces on February 24, 2022. Getty Images

Security personnel inspect the remains of a shell in Kyiv on February 24, 2022, soon after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in Ukraine. AFP

CCTV footage shows Russian military equipment crossing a Crimea border checkpoint on February 24, 2022. AFP

Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin early on February 24, 2022, when he announced a 'military operation' in Ukraine. AFP