Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he expects "serious steps" from NATO, the European Union, and G-7 after their summits in Brussels Thursday. His virtual world tour is proving a new weapon in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Speaking outside the presidential office in Kyiv Thursday, Zelenskiy said Russia had been working with several countries trying to "stifle" the resistance against war at the upcoming summits.

"At these summits we will see who is a friend, who is a partner, and who has betrayed us for money," he said.

Zelenskiy again raised the question of a no-fly zone and arms supplies that he says Ukraine needs.

He praised his citizens for withstanding Russian aggression for a month, describing Moscow's actions as "suicide."

Ukraine's leader also addressed Russian citizens in Russian, urging them to spread the truth about the war and leave the country so their taxes don't fuel the war.

As a professional comedian until three years ago, Zelenskiy knows to tailor his material for different audiences. As president of a nation at war, he’s deployed that skill to great effect on a virtual world tour, inspiring and shaming in equal measure.

Beamed onto giant screens in the National Diet of Japan and, later, France’s National Assembly on Wednesday, Zelenskiy invited legislators to connect with Ukraine’s plight by playing to their own history and self-image, just as he has now done at least 10 times since Russia invaded Ukraine exactly a month ago.

For most leaders, to address the chamber of another democracy is an honor granted once in a political lifetime, if at all. Zelenskiy drew standing ovations even in Berlin, despite his sharp criticisms, recalling Germany’s World War II guilt as he asked the Bundestag to stop putting business interests over Ukrainian lives so as not to again “have to feel ashamed one day.”

Badly out-gunned by Russia on land, in the air and at sea, the information war is the one arena in which Ukraine is clearly winning. That’s thanks in no small part to Zelenskiy’s international road show, made possible by the post-Covid normalization of video conferencing, as well as the grim star quality of Zelenskiy’s unshaven, Khaki-clad -- and routinely blunt -- appeals.

“This is just huge,” said Alastair Campbell, who as the communications chief of former PM Tony Blair organized the first ever address to the French legislature by a British leader, in 1998. “We spent an enormous amount of time preparing the speech, the French had their drummers out and I don’t think I had ever seen Tony as nervous.”

Zelenskiy has been pulling that off multiple times a week, securing invitations by dint of his name recognition and popularity among voters across much of the democratic world. By Tuesday, as he juggled his virtual appearances with speaking to his own nation, leading the war effort and simply staying alive under Russian bombing and alleged assassination attempts, he appeared tired.

“Zelenskiy is exploiting -- and I don’t mean that in a negative sense -- the fact that part of their messaging is that we stand by Ukraine,” Campbell said, referring to the politicians he’s addressing. “So part of his messaging is, thank you very much for that, but we want you to do more.”

That balance between gratitude and reproach is hard to achieve, but helped by what Campbell sees as Zelenskiy’s unusual -- for a politician -- ability to come across as genuine. At times his appeals appear to have had a direct impact.

Hours after Zelenskiy’s address to the U.S. Congress, delivered complete with videos of destruction in Ukraine that caused one legislator to call out, “Jesus,” President Joe Biden announced an additional $800 million aid package including armed drones, as well as thousands of anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons.

At each stop Zelensky’s core message has been the same, with the “more” that he wants often boiling down to toughening sanctions on Russia and either imposing a no-fly zone, or providing the means for Ukraine to do so itself. The context, however, has been carefully tailored.

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