I don't like to indulge wishful thinking and fantasy much, either. I am trying to look at this from a materialist lens, though.

I mention it elsewhere in this thread, but Zelenskyy has no real base of support within Ukraine. He will never be "pure" enough for the Banderites. Polling has shown that he wouldn't win in an election against Zaluzhnyi, who is more or less the Banderite and militarists guy. After dismissing Zaluzhnyi, I think we all half-expected there to be a military coup. The Banderites have threatened to kill him multiple times (personally, I think he's only still alive because he's the money guy). The communists and anti-fascists want to see him violently overthrown. The rest of the citizens of Ukraine are prisoners living in a fascist police state run by an unelected dictator, who's pushing them into an impossible meat-grinder.

Ukrainians know he's blocked multiple peace deals that they would have been totally amenable to. Consider that the Istanbul peace deal that the US/UK torpedoed would only have required that Ukraine not join NATO. What Ukrainian civilian would have been willing to risk nuclear war just to join NATO, just so the west can park nukes on another Russian border, risking yet more nuclear war right in their front yard?

Grim conditions for someone trying to stay in power. The west can try to spin it all they like, but the western media bubble cheering him on is totally divorced from the conditions and opinions inside Ukraine. Historically speaking, the material conditions of Ukrainians are going to be the real determining force for Zelenskyy, no matter how many suburban white people in Kansas paint their faces on instagram.