Opinion: Putin could learn a thing or two from Zelensky's PR game

There’s no doubt Ukraine’s military is outmatched; it is the David to Russia’s Goliath. And yet Zelensky is wielding a modern-day slingshot in the form of social media tools and modern communication skills that are helping him gain an upper hand in what is also a crucial battle: the struggle to control the narrative of war.

Influencing people’s perception depends on messages that are simple, memorable and impactful. In Zelensky’s communication — ranging from Twitter posts to media interviews and video addresses to foreign parliaments — he has checked all three of those boxes. This messaging, in addition to powerfully persuasive optics, will guarantee Zelensky’s words have a place in future history books.

Though right now, Zelensky is likely less concerned with his legacy and more focused on keeping his citizens alive. It’s one thing to arm your soldiers with advanced weaponry — the importance of which is unquestioned. But it’s a gifted leader’s responsibility to arm their people with something equally powerful: inspiration, motivation and national pride.

Zelensky appears to be outdueling his Kremlin counterpart in that regard, if intelligence reports citing low morale among Russian troops are true. Indeed retired US military experts have expressed shock over how poorly-trained the Russian soldiers appear to be, while marveling at how determined and spirited the Ukranians are.

That imbalance of fighting spirit could be costly to the Russians, if you subscribe to the theory of legendary Second World War General George S. Patton, who said, “Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is the spirit of men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the victory.”

Channeling his inner Winston Churchill during a House of Commons address earlier this month, Zelensky echoed a line from the former British Prime Minister, vowing to fight the Russians “in the forest, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets.” Churchill used these very lines to…

Source : cnn