Are Critiques of Zelensky a Side Effect of Societal Exhaustion?

Welcome to The Ukraine Compass, a weekly digest of Ukrainian commentary and analysis from across the political spectrum only for War on the Rocks members. Each week, we bring you a curated selection of articles from Ukrainian media offering insight into how Ukrainians themselves debate the issues shaping their country.Western coverage often narrows the view to the battlefield — these pieces widen it, revealing the texture of daily life, politics, and public argument in a nation at war. The perspectives gathered here are varied, candid, and often surprising, together forming a more complete picture of Ukraine as it really is.Frontline and StrategyУкраїнський тиждень — Ukrainskyi Tyzhden (“The Ukrainian Week”)Weekly magazine with a national-democratic and conservative voice“Why the Russian Internet Turned Out to Be More Vulnerable Than Ukraine’s”By Nadezhda Balovsyak/Oct. 21, 2026Recent strikes on data centers have tested two opposing internet models. Russia’s internet, built for censorship through centralized control and a few dominant companies, has proven fragile. Ukrainian drone strikes on three Yandex data centers in October 2026 knocked out dozens of services. By contrast, Ukraine’s decentralized network of thousands of independent providers, reinforced by cloud backups abroad, national roaming, 10-hour backup power rules, and power-independent GPON fiber, kept state services running despite September attacks on Kyiv data centers, writes Nadezhda Balovsyak. The author warns, however, that Ukraine’s advantage isn’t guaranteed, citing the 2023 Kyivstar cyberattack and over-reliance on Starlink and foreign clouds.“The Ukrainian internet clearly has its weaknesses. For example, the December 2023 cyberattack on Kyivstar, which Ukraine blamed on the Russian hacker group Sandworm, left millions of subscribers without mobile service for several days. It showed that even in a decentralized market, major players have concentrated cores that can be targeted. Dependence on Starlink is another problem, since it ties Ukraine to a private company with a foreign