Delegitimizing Zelenskyy through the image of a war for personal power

What it claims

The absence of elections is cast as evidence that Volodymyr Zelenskyy retains power by prolonging the war. Debates about aid to Ukraine are inflated into suspicions about how funds are spent, while wartime decisions are reduced to the president’s personal interest. Political assessments, changes in approval ratings, and wartime circumstances are assembled into a pre-scripted story of “dictatorship.”

Target audience

Examples (paraphrased)

We paraphrase rather than quote: propaganda's exact wording is built to spread, so we carry the claim and not the craft. Each example cites the post it came from.

• The war supposedly allowed Zelenskyy to avoid accountability for declining popularity and keep his office.

  Diana Panchenko, 17 Sept 2026

  x.com/Panchenko_X/status/2100614584881098938

• Western money disappeared without explanation, and the answer will emerge only after an audit.

  Diana Panchenko, 16 Sept 2026

  x.com/Panchenko_X/status/2100323492583395458

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Goal

To weaken Western publics’ willingness to support Ukraine by portraying aid and defensive actions as instruments of retaining personal power.

Techniques used

• Causal OversimplificationThe absence of elections and wartime decisions are reduced to one explanation: the president’s personal wish to retain power.
• Loaded LanguageZelenskyy is branded a “dictator” by linking that label to insinuations about Western aid and strikes on Russia.

The real grievance it exploits

Concern about the duration of the war, taxpayers’ costs, and transparency in the use of international aid.

How to counter

• Technique exposure: Watch for causal oversimplification: the absence of elections during a war does not prove one person’s motives, and changing approval ratings do not explain all wartime decisions.
• Reframe: Questions of aid accountability and political responsibility should be considered separately from the unsupported explanation that defending the country is merely the president’s struggle for power.

Sources (all time)

• Diana PanchenkoTier 1163,942 followers
  3 posts · 16–17 Sept 2026

  • 17 Sept · x.com/Panchenko_X/status/2100684543963308538
  • 17 Sept · x.com/Panchenko_X/status/2100614584881098938
  • 16 Sept · x.com/Panchenko_X/status/2100323492583395458
• New Eastern OutlookTier 1~23K monthly visitors
  1 post · 23 Sept 2026

  • 23 Sept · journal-neo.su/2026/09/23/the-dictator-of-kiev-needs-the-war-closing-russian-skies-to-stay-in-power/