The first is that his country is actually receiving much less media attention. For the past month, international attention has been drawn away from his war to another.

The second is that he is confronting growing resistance in the U.S. House of Representatives. President Joe Biden's plan to tie aid to Ukraine and aid to Israel together is both a tactical maneuver to ensure continued congressional support for Ukraine and an admission that that support can no longer be taken for granted.

But the fact is that Zelensky is facing a sea of troubles, not only from foreign shores, but from domestic ones as well. That sea change comes from his inner circle, from the citizens of Ukraine, and from the battlefield.

A small number of current and former members of Zelensky's inner circle have gone public with concerning criticisms of the president.

Time magazine reports that in the face of "setbacks on the battlefield"—an understatement for the disastrous counteroffensive—Zelensky's "belief in Ukraine's ultimate victory over Russia has hardened into a form that worries some of his advisers," saying, concerningly, that it "verg[es] on the messianic." One of Zelensky's "closest aides" said that Zelensky "deludes himself." The aide complained, "We're out of options. We're not winning. But try telling him that."